The Complete Idiot's Guide to Beading by Georgene Lockwood seems like it was a long time coming! The only thing I really didn't like about it was that the images and illustrations in it are mostly black and white, but it is a very comprehensive guide to beading. It explains basic seed bead weaving, how to make perfect wrapped eyepins and regular eyepins, how to use crimp beads, picking the right finishing method for the materials you are using, and has a truly fantastic list of resources both online and by mail. It explains how to clean stones and metal, and how to care for completed beadwork. The projects and a lot of the information may seem a little too basic for advanced beaders, but the sections on caring for jewelry and the resources make it worthwhile for experienced beaders. The little cartoons at the start of every chapter made me grin.
She's taken her time to really research resources, so you get a good list of books to look for and websites to look at. I was really impressed, she emailed me while she was writing it to link to my personal homepage for the graph paper I have up there for beaders, and I got really excited about the book. It totally lived up to my expectations.
I enjoyed it, and it's one I'll be sharing with my children as the get interested in beading.