Im doing the first example page 76 where you have to submit your favorite author and php returns it back to you! well for some reason when i submit my author the page just returns "your favorite author is :" and that it, it returns nothing! and he does mention why this has happend but everything in my code seems fine, it just wont return anything but a blank! and ha its bugging me and i cant move on until i get it sorted

Is the text in the query string on the URL [with method="get"] and not on the page? If so, you have to either turn on the register_globals or use the $_GET or $_POST--Read the errata for the book.

Are you sure that in php.ini file you have this line:
register_globals = on
If register_globals has the value "off" you have to enter this line in the file text.php
$Author=$HTTP_POST_VARS["Author"];

...but the Soon is eclipsed by the Moon

In addition to what has already been posted, if you are storing your files locally, be sure to make sure that you have the server software up and running, otherwise the PHP code will not be parsed.

Post your code so we can see what you have typed, and how you have typed it. Aside from the buggy code in the book, simple typing errors are usually the culprit.

 -David

I got it solved, i forgot about the "register_globals" once i turned them on it was working. Thanks for the help much appreciated