The folks at Friend of Ed were kind enough to send me a copy of PHP Solutions, by David Powers. This book is solely intended for someone who hasn't used PHP before but approaches it in a way that is different than most books I've seen.

Jonathan talks about the contents of the book (installation, the basics, working with images, etc) and mentions what he liked about the book - mostly its forward-thinking approach including a look at PHP6 and a more well-rounded approach than just the traditional "put it in the database" ideas.