In my opinion...
There is not better book than "Syncopation" by: Ted Reed to start learning basic notation.
As for more advanced concert oriented snare drum, I really like Morris Goldenberg's "Modern School For Snare Drum".
For beginning drumset...definately "A Funky Primer" by: Charles Dowd. That was my first drumset book and still one of my favorites to teach out of. I recently found (and bought) a sequel to that book called "A Funky Thesaurus" that deals with odd time signatures and Afro-Cuban drumming, primarily the Afro-Cuban 12/8 (a.k.a. Nanigo...hmmm...don't know how to make a ~ over the second n...
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For more advanced drumset, I like Rick Latham's "Advanced Funk Studies". I was fortunate enough to see Mr. Latham at a local music festival playing with Edgar Winter. I was watching him play and recognizing licks and grooves that I learned in that book...that really went a long way toward showing me that almost everything in that book could be applied to a real world situation.
--adam--
