Last updated on November 8, 2026
Almost every “best WordPress books” list has the same problem. The books on it were written for a version of WordPress that doesn’t exist any more.
The block editor arrived in WordPress 5.0 in December 2018, and block themes followed in 5.9 in early 2022. Most WordPress books on sale today were published before either of those things happened, so you open the book, you open WordPress, and the screenshots don’t match what’s on your screen. For a beginner, matching screenshots is the whole reason to buy a book in the first place.
So this list is shorter than most, and it tells you which WordPress each book covers. Four are worth your money, and you can skip two.
| Book | Latest edition | Covers the block editor? | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| WordPress All-in-One For Dummies | 5th, early 2024 | Yes | Complete beginners |
| WordPress: The Missing Manual | 3rd, October 2020 | Yes | Non-developers building a real site |
| Professional WordPress Plugin Development | 2nd, 2020 | Partly | Learning to build plugins |
| WordPress Plugin Development Cookbook | 3rd, 2022 | Yes, includes custom blocks | Developers who want recipes |
| Professional WordPress: Design and Development | 3rd, 2015 | No | Skip |
| Smashing WordPress: Beyond the Blog | 4th, 2014 | No | Skip |
The only question that matters when choosing
If a WordPress book was published before 2019, it predates the block editor entirely, and every editing instruction in it describes a screen you’ll never see. If it was published before 2022, it won’t cover block themes or site editing, so the chapters on theme customisation send you somewhere that doesn’t exist in the admin menu any more.
That sounds obvious, but publishers keep old editions in print and listings rarely put the year anywhere you’d notice. A five star review from 2016 looks identical to a five star review from last month.
There’s one exception. Books about PHP, plugin architecture, hooks, and the database aged far better than books about themes and editing. The block editor changed how you build pages, but it didn’t change how add_action works, which is why the plugin development titles below survived and the theme titles didn’t.
The four WordPress books worth buying
1. WordPress All-in-One For Dummies, 5th edition
Best for: complete beginners who want one book and nothing else.
Lisa Sabin-Wilson, Wiley, early 2024. This is the most recent mainstream WordPress book, and the only beginner-facing one properly updated for the block editor.
The For Dummies name puts some people off, which is a mistake here. The All-in-One format means it covers the lot, from installation and hosting through the block editor, plugins, themes, and basic ecommerce. If you’re starting from zero and want paper on your desk while you work, start here.
It isn’t a development book though. If you want to write code, look further down the list.
2. WordPress: The Missing Manual, 3rd edition
Best for: non-developers building something real who want the reasoning behind each step.
Matthew MacDonald, O’Reilly, October 2020. Check the edition carefully if you’re buying secondhand, because the 2015 second edition doesn’t cover the block editor and both are still circulating.
The Missing Manual series explains rather than instructs, which makes it the better choice if you found the For Dummies approach too step by step. It’s strong on taking a site from blog to full website: custom post types in plain language, ecommerce basics, performance.
Caveat: October 2020 means it predates block themes and site editing, so treat the editing chapters as current and the theme chapters as history.
3. Professional WordPress Plugin Development, 2nd edition
Best for: people who can already write PHP and want to build plugins properly.
Brad Williams and co-authors, 2020. The second edition is the one to buy.
This is still the clearest book on how WordPress works underneath: hooks and filters, the settings and options APIs, custom post types, security practices, internationalisation.
It’s light on building custom blocks, which is where the next book comes in.
4. WordPress Plugin Development Cookbook, 3rd edition
Best for: developers who want solutions to specific problems rather than a narrative.
Yannick Lefebvre, March 2022. The cookbook format gives you self-contained recipes, and the third edition includes creating custom blocks for the block editor, which almost nothing else in print covers.
Use it alongside the previous book rather than instead of it. The other book explains how WordPress fits together; this one gives you code you can adapt.
The two to skip
Both of these were good books. They describe a WordPress that no longer exists.
Professional WordPress: Design and Development, 3rd edition (2015). Strong in its day, and the chapters on PHP fundamentals, the loop, and the database still hold up. But it’s a pre-Gutenberg theme development book, and its theme chapters teach an approach that works but that nobody starts with any more. Buy it only if you specifically want classic PHP theme development.
Smashing WordPress: Beyond the Blog, 4th edition (2014). Twelve years old now, and every editing and theming instruction in it describes the old interface.
If you already own these, keep them for the PHP and database material. Just don’t buy them new, and don’t start here.
Where books stop being the right tool
There’s currently no good book on block themes or Full Site Editing. Publishing cycles run eighteen months or more, WordPress ships major releases two or three times a year, and the part of WordPress that changed most ends up with the thinnest book coverage.
For that material the best resources are free and official:
- Learn WordPress has structured courses and workshops maintained by the community and updated alongside releases. This is where to go for block themes.
- The Block Editor Handbook on developer.wordpress.org is the reference for block development,
theme.json, and block templates. - The Theme Handbook covers both classic and block theme development, and unlike a book it gets corrected when something changes.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are WordPress books still worth buying in 2026?
For fundamentals, yes. A good book gives you a structured path through installation, hosting, content modelling, and plugin architecture, and none of that changes quickly. For anything involving the editor or themes, check the publication date first and expect to fill the gaps with the official handbooks.
Which WordPress book covers block themes and Full Site Editing?
None of the major print titles cover it properly. That’s a real gap in the market, and until someone fills it, use the Theme Handbook and the Block Editor Handbook on developer.wordpress.org, plus the block theme courses on Learn WordPress.
What is the best WordPress book for a complete beginner?
WordPress All-in-One For Dummies, 5th edition. It’s the most recent, it covers the block editor, and it assumes no prior knowledge.