I am just blown away by how many Drupal 6 books have hit the market this year. Four books have already hit the market this year, four more are on the way, and at least four more are due in early 2009. Keep ‘em coming!

As a Drupal enthusiast and evangelist, I get excited when I see the community produce books about Drupal. For me, when I see books published about a particular technology, it’s like a rite of passage. Drupal 6’s roots are now deep enough that many people view it as a platform they can depend on.

I was recently swept into the Drupal community earlier this year, just months after Drupal 6 was released. I cannot begin to express how hard it was to find good resources and tutorials that could help a newbie. In some ways, learning Drupal 6 has been like learning a new language. One of the areas in Drupal 6 that has been a challenge for me is the theme engine.

I considered buying Ric Shreves, Drupal 5 Themes, by Packt Publishing. However, I decided against it because I had no clue if this would help me with the Drupal 6 theme engine. As a compromise, I ended up buying Building Powerful and Robust Websites with Drupal 6 by David Mercer. Just so you know, this is a great book… BUT, it only devoted ~30 pages to the theme engine! Hey, it was enough to get me going, but it obviously wasn’t a thorough treatment of how I can leverage the theme engine in Drupal 6.

But, I just received exciting news! Packt Publishing is releasing Drupal 6 Themes, by Ric Shreves. This book is an updated and expanded edition Ric’s previous book. I’ve pre-ordered my copy and I am looking forward to its arrival!