The official php.net tutorial and documentation is probably the best I've seen for any programming language. I strongly suggest using it rather than paying for a book.
PHP for Dummies! That is the perfect name for a book. Except for the fact that I'm not DUMB. Just inept at quality website programming.
I bought a book called "PHP in 10 Minutes" which just gave me a brief overview to get me started and then as I wanted to learn more to make my own scripts (good ones) I kept reading about different funtions etc on php.net, the site is very useful
In my mind, the PHP Manual from php.net is the best book for learning PHP; there are some discussions and examples too.
By far (for me anyway) "Larry Ullman" "Visual Quickstart"... either PHP or the PHP + MySQL books come highly recommended. His website is here: http://www.dmcinsights.com/ Good luck
sams 'teach yourself php in 24 hours'. then try with sitepoint's books(those are practical). dont read apress's books.
I second this. If you learn well from books then Ullman's books are the way to go. They work well for me.
Well, Php and mysql for dummies is quiet good book. I'm study in it I know alot of basic things now i can even write little thing out me head!
lolz i have no idea how i got basic understanding in php... i can suggest following web: w3schools(dot)com best you can do, is to find something in php and try to make it better, whats how i learned php. BTW books are for dummies, i now know HTML and XHTML on perfect whiteout any books.
i dont know of what titles exactly but I have taken out 2 or 3 books from the library, did you do a search on your local library website, most have books covering these and more topics and best of all is free!
When I began learning and dabbling in PHP I used tizag.com and sitepoint.com they helped alot as did the php.net and a few others