Comment And I'll say it again... (Score 4, Insightful) 229
The only book anyone should be using for learning PHP is the PHP manual. We write it for a reason. The manual is the only resource I know of which is almost always up to date, maintained, and largely error free (We have errors, but as soon as they're reported they are fixed, usually within hours of the report being filed. Most of these types of errors involve spelling or gramatical mistakes.). Books released on the subject all do the same thing: re-write what the manual has already adequately stated while throwing in errors left and right.
Arguably, there are a few books written which at first seem to be written well. Hell, who isn't tempted to pick up a book now and again which has names such as "Rasmus" and "Andi" etc stamped across the front in large gaping print. But these books are just as useless as those written by lesser-known authors, and shouldn't be used because of the same failings of other books: They're error-prone, and almost immediately deprecated. PHP changes rapidly, very rapidly. Possibly too rapidly for its own good, but that's another discussion entirely. Point being that you can't commit changes to the cvs repository of a book as you can to the PHP manual, and as such any printed book will fall far short of being as up to date as the PHP manual.
If you need a resource to "teach you PHP quickly" there is generally only one chapter you need to read in its entirety, and that is php.net/langref. Anyone willing to take the time to do that can pick up the (extremely easy and basic) syntax of PHP within 2 to 4 hours. From there all one need do is hit the extension documentation pages of any API they may wish to use, such as php.net/mysql, php.net/pcre, etc.
Arguably, there are a few books written which at first seem to be written well. Hell, who isn't tempted to pick up a book now and again which has names such as "Rasmus" and "Andi" etc stamped across the front in large gaping print. But these books are just as useless as those written by lesser-known authors, and shouldn't be used because of the same failings of other books: They're error-prone, and almost immediately deprecated. PHP changes rapidly, very rapidly. Possibly too rapidly for its own good, but that's another discussion entirely. Point being that you can't commit changes to the cvs repository of a book as you can to the PHP manual, and as such any printed book will fall far short of being as up to date as the PHP manual.
If you need a resource to "teach you PHP quickly" there is generally only one chapter you need to read in its entirety, and that is php.net/langref. Anyone willing to take the time to do that can pick up the (extremely easy and basic) syntax of PHP within 2 to 4 hours. From there all one need do is hit the extension documentation pages of any API they may wish to use, such as php.net/mysql, php.net/pcre, etc.
