Rating: 

From the very start, it's obvious this book is severely lacking in professional editing. I'm on page 44 and I've already found 10 editorial errors! My favorite is on pg 44 where it shows a graphic illustrating how a string works - "[t][e][s][t][:][n][g] = testing" {sic} Yes, that is a colon. How in the WORLD did they miss that? It's at least 18 point font on the page! It's just a shining example of the editorial trend this book has shown.

The writing is nothing to praise either. The beginning of Chapter 3 says,
"Since you haven't done any programming, we understand that variables are a new concept."
Later on, while talking about super global variables in PHP, the author writes:
"The older super global variables such as those starting with $HTTP_* that were not in arrays still exist, but their use is not recommended as they are less secure."
Obviously the author cannot decide what audience to write for. Beginners, or someone with PHP experience who will understand that last quote? The direction of the writing could confound beginners, and the book is not geared to anyone else.

Often confusing and poorly edited, this book should not be your first resource for PHP and MySQL. If you are determined and clever, you should be able to decipher what the book is trying to tell you - but look elsewhere unless you enjoy doing that sort of thing while trying to learn a new concept.