@Lee, I can't say that I agree with your viewpoint as I was very pleased with the book. I'm surprised that you took issue with the book using third party themes and plugins rather than using an extensive amount of coding to build the sites. If you read the back cover it says, "Each chapter is devoted to the construction of a different type of site that can be created with WordPress and the right combination of themes and/or plugins." so it's clear going in that that's exactly what you will find in the book. In my opinion your stance is like being disappointed when the cheeseburger that you ordered arrives with cheese.

Also, I'm not sure why you would want to learn how to code the sites yourself when others have already created themes and plugins that will do what needs to be done. That's the whole point of plugins and themes; they make it possible for you add functionality to your site without the need to invest the time and effort required to code them yourself.

Lastly, yes some, but certainly not all, of the themes/plugins mentioned in the book require you to make a purchase, but so what? The real shame is that so many people think that everything available online should be free for the taking. Why shouldn't these developers be able to make some money off of all of their hard work?