Graphic Design School has some useful tools for beginners, but more than half of the book is outdated. Graphic Design School has a few sections on design theory, and more than half the book are tutorials in photoshop, illustrator, etc.
The book boasts a bit how today you cannot talk about or teach graphic desing without addressing technology, This is where the book faulters. Technology tchanges so quickly now that this book's many tutorials end up being very obsolete (pre adobe CS). It would have been nice if this came with a CD that could get updates for tutorials, etc. A book like this needs to make a new edition atleast every 2 years to keep up.