A book is actually two separate things. One is a hierarchical structure or outline that can contain any other node type. So, for instance, you could add a blog entry, a story -- or even a weblink -- to a book outline. This is a good way to organize content (especially different kinds of content) without having to create yet another category. An example would be "Mexico 2004" -- you could tag all of the content you create (like blog posts, images, etc.) with a term like "Travel", and then order them all in your Mexico 2004 book (since you are unlikely to add to a category called Mexico 2004 in the future).

Secondly, you can create book nodes directly. This allows you to make use of the "maintain book pages" permissions, whereby anyone that creates a book node can edit it (this is how the book is somewhat wiki-like). The top level, or root, of a book must be a book node, and only admins ("administer nodes") can create new root books. As per the previous example, you would create a book root node called "Mexico 2004". All the root books are displayed (with teasers) at the /book URL.

Features of Book Nodes

• book outline: using weight, order nodes in a book as well as arrange them hierarchically
• auto-navigation (next, previous, and up links are automatically created)
• printer-friendly view (shows content with print stylesheet, which generally strips all graphics and just displays semantically - h1, h2, etc.)

Blocks

• Book Navigation: shows hierarchy of book nodes and your current place in them.

Suggested Usage

• Wiki-like maintenance of documentation or shared information (e.g. top 10 places to eat in Vancouver, FAQs, etc.)
• Group content without creating taxonomy terms
• With the book navigation block turned on, easily create website sections (e.g. About -> The Team, Company, Contact Us). Good for displaying automatic secondary navigation.