Rating: 
Summary: Highly recommended to beginners
Review: Before I read this book I knew very little about PHP and MySQL. I had dabbled a little in ASP many years ago but foremost I'm a designer so coding isn't always second nature to me. I started reading this book on the train to work and again on the way back; after 2 hours reading I had the confidence to try to build my own basic content management system!
At just over 250 pages the book is rather on the small side compared to a lot of the other books on the topic, but it really does contain all the essentials. It also encourages you to think for yourself and it really helped me understand how simple PHP and MySQL really is.
This book is very much aimed at the beginner who hasn't dabbled before so I doubt it's of much use to established PHPers, but to newcomers to the field I can't recommend this book enough.
Rating:
Summary: This is a great beginners book
Review: I bought this book and am very happy with it. I've bought a lot of books on PHP that really suck, not because the author didn't know the subject, but because the author stunk as a teacher. This isn't a reference book, it's a how-to tutorial and it succeeds at what it set out to do. It teaches PHP and MySQL to newbies. I've used it and have loaned it out to others in my company and they love it. Read this one first and then, if you want to, move on to more in-depth books on PHP.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Intro book to PHP programming with MySQL
Review: I throughly enjoyed the book. Kevin Yank writes very well and makes the book an easy read and gets you excited about developing your own database driven application. It was just the book I was looking for to getting started with PHP and MySQL web development. I wouldn't recommend it for seasoned PHP and MySQL programmers and the book is the on thin side to be of any use as reference, but it's very excellent for beginners. I'll probably invest in a more robust PHP and MySQL web development book in the future.
Rating:
Summary: For a limited audience
Review: I wouldn't say this is for the total newbie, although basic explanations of the various component software (web servers, MySql, and PHP) are good. But it is a handy reference and tutorial for anyone who has some knowledge or understanding of databases and programming, and wants to know more about using PHP with MySql. The tutorial format is somewhat weak on details, which are supposed to be supplemented by the SitePoint website (which I didn't check). I found the greatest value, however, in the explanations of the programming techniques and tricks. Given the complexities of working with a database and PHP, this book will surely disappoint newbies who are looking for a "Learn MySQL and PHP in 24 hours" type of book. For those venturing fearlessly into the waters, it's worth the price.
Rating: 
Summary: Introduction for beginners, has technical flaws
Review: I'd like to recommend this book because there is a lot going for it. The text is readable. The illustrations and screenshots are well done. And the book presents a nice learning curve from beginner to reasonably high level concepts. But the book has some technical flaws that other beginning PHP books do not. An example is the authors use of SQL, a primary feature of this type of book, which is implemented using string concatenation. This type of SQL is not only inefficient, it's also prone to SQL injection attacks which means that any code based on this book will have serious security issues.
There are some very good parts, however. The chapter that introduces relational databases is very well done.
I recommend O'Reilly's Learning PHP 5 as an alternative to this book.
Rating:
Summary: Marja, Read this
Review: If Marja (from Amsterdam) knew any thing about PHP or programming for that matter he or she would know that it is not nessecary to declare variables before calling them in PHP! Kevin's book is auwsome; I learned so much from it, infact I couldn't have built my last ten sites with out it.
Rating:
Summary: weak description of relational databases
Review: The combination of PHP and MySQL open source applications for developing a website has garnered wide attention. Yank explains why in this concise book. The scenario is that you want to build a website that has a back end database. From that database and also with input from the user, the web server has to get data and generate (ie. publish) dynamic HTML webpages.
The book quickly covers the panoply of topics needed to implement this goal. Yank starts by explaining how to use separately MySQL and PHP.
Then a chapter on relational databases. The weakest part of the book. No mention of the intricacies of normalisation or how to seriously design multiple tables with related keys. He gives a simple example that is correct insofar as it goes, and which lets him finesse not providing a fuller theoretical framework. If you have had no prior exposure to relational databases, then this chapter may be of limited usefulness in the context of your situation. Perhaps the best that can be said of the chapter is that it can motivate you to investigate designing a relational database, using a more extensive text devoted to that subject.
Later chapters then show how to combine the MySQL and PHP into an entire system. These chapters are better done.
Rating:
Summary: Great place to start when diving into the topic
Review: This book is for those who like step-by-step directions accompanied by explanations of how things work. I learned many things using this approach. This book is a stepping stone to creating dynamic Web sites.
Yank does a fine job covering a little of everything without overpowering the reader with too much. Anyone who has experimented with Perl, PHP, ASP.NET, MySQl, Access, some of them or all of them will like the book. Those who can write PHP and MySQL with little help need to find a more advanced book (don't have suggestions, but I am sure others do).
I rarely ran into problems while following the examples. I've worked with other technical books and hit a brick wall at times requiring a call for help or serious research. While working with this book, I only got stuck once and immediately figured out the problem with a little research.
Yank uses visual aids and avoids jargon when explaining the process of laying out the database tables. A reviewer commented that Yank missed important concepts regarding databases. This book is not meant to go into such details. There are other books for that.
This book is well-rounded in covering all the necessary components of building a Web site using a database. While adding data, viewing tables, and querying the database, you're learning tasks that will come in handy for future projects.
Not only do you get instructions for PHP and MySQL, but also advice on structuring code so that it's used effectively.
If you've never installed Apache, PHP, or MySQL or can't recall how to do it, the steps for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X are in the first chapter. Since the latest edition covers PHP 5, the author addresses the differences in PHP 4.3. When working on the first PHP script, there is no "Hello World!" for a change.
The early chapters provide a good overview of PHP and MySQL. By Chapter 4, the contents of the earlier chapters are integrated as the backend database connects to the Web page with PHP. The next chapters show how to use forms to manage, add, delete, edit, and search data. By midpoint, the reader has designed a database, organized it, created Web pages for the data, added administration pages, and administered the database. Yank also explains how to generate cookies and build a simple shopping cart.
The appendices include MySQL syntax, functions, column types, and PHP functions to use with MySQL. The book has an accompanying Web site that includes errata and four free sample chapters. Having edited a few tech books, I know how easy it is to miss things when you're working on different computer set ups and application versions. Check the site especially since it has the code from the book. When running into problems, compare your code to the code from the site.
One chapter has a challenge along with the solution (a couple of pages later, so you're not tempted to peek). Having a challenge like this in most chapters, I believe, would help cement the learning. Overall, it will make the purchaser happy.
The four free sample chapters give you a good idea of what the book is about and its style <http://sitepoint.com/books/phpmysql1/>.
Rating:
Summary: This Tutorial WORKS
Review: This book is the first tutorial that actually GOT me there. I was able to set up my G3 266 running OS X (that's right kids, 10.2.8) and get Apache set up right, MySQL installed, tested and working securely and PHP connected up. When I got my first test page working and pulled my first record up, I came to the realization that the instructions in the book worked. Exactly right. First time. Well-written, well-formatted and CLEAR. The Mac section had everything I needed. When I began doing the exercises, I began to dread typing in all the code - then I finally keyed on the CODE ARCHIVE!!!! No CDs to screw around with - just go to the site, punch in some numbers and BINGO, complete set of files, ready to use. Gotta love that. I'm confident now, having finally gotten over the 'hump' of setting up my system and UNDERSTANDING what I was doing, that I'll be able to build database-driven sites with good insight. I strongly recommend this title.
Rating:
Summary: A great overview of of a complex process
Review: This is a great book for someone getting started in serving up dynamic webpages. It provides an excellent introduction to PHP and MySQL (including installation) and how to make them work together. The power user will want to go on to other resources, but this one will get you over the startup hump.
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