In a recent tutorial from the IBM developerWorks website they show you how to link your site with the Google Book search and parse the results with the Zend Framework's Zend_GData component.

This article will introduce you to the Google Book Search Data API, showing you how to integrate and use book search results with a custom PHP application. It includes examples of searching for books by keyword, by language or by author; retrieving book data (including ISBN numbers and thumbnail images); and adding reviews and ratings to books that are already in the database.

They start with an overview of how the search feeds are structured so you can get an idea of whether or not the returned information looks correct or not. From there they get into the code - parsing those feeds, sending search requests based on input strings, getting details on a specific book and pulling in the contents of a user's library.

In doing some reviews of several SugarCRM books Sander Van Hooft has posted some of his suggestions for good ones to look into if you're trying to get into how SugarCRM works and using it day-to-day.

Finding the information you need can consume very much time, even more if you are new to the Open Source CRM solution SugarCRM. Not all books however are the right choice for all user types. Buying yourself a decent book may be an obvious time saver, but then, since you're new to all this, what book should you buy?

His suggestions cover a wide range of skill levels including the SugarCRM for Dummies book and a Developer's Guide on extending and enhancing your SugarCRM installation.

Robert Basic has posted a review of the "jQuery 1.3 with PHP" book from Packt Publishing (by Kae Verens):

Although I never wrote about jQuery here, I use it quite often and can pull of nice tricks with it. [...] his book is aimed at PHP developers who have met only a few times with JavaScript and jQuery, but I believe even a novice programmer can gain knowledge from it '" just be warned, the PHP examples are here for the sake of the examples only; about which the author warns throughout the book. [...] The examples in the book are well explained and commented!

Robert also mentions some of the contents of the book - the introduction, a "quick tricks" chapter and more detailed chapters covering things like form validation, making a calendar and cropping/resizing images. He includes links to the table of contents and sample chapter if you'd like an example of what the book is like.

Danne Lundqvist has posted a review of the Packt Publishing book "Zend Framework 1.8 Web Application Developing":

In return they asked me to write what I thought about it. I have had it lying on my desk for a while but haven't had time to read it more carefully. Nevertheless I have actually used it every now and then. Now, after reading a bit more the last few days, I can finally give my opinion on the book.

He comes at it from a perspective of technology books in general, how they can get outdated quickly, and how he was pleasantly surprised by how this book defies that. He briefly covers the contents of the book, touching on concepts like the "Fat model, skinny controller" and best practices for view handling. He recommends it more to beginners with the Zend Framework than experienced users.

On the Tutsplus.com site today there's an new interview with Jason Lengstorf, a developer who specializes in PHP & jQuery applications and the author of the PHP for Absolute Beginners book (from APress).

He's the author of the recently released PHP for Absolute Beginners, which is an expert's voice in open source. Additionally, he co-authored an eight-part tutorial on Creating a Web App from Scratch with Chris Coyier. Join us as we discuss web development, PHP, and his life in general.

They talk about his background, how he got started in web development and what he thinks are the best ways to start learning PHP (and jQuery and CSS). They also mention some of his favorite resources, what kind of environment he's used to and other things he's involved in.

Ken Guest has posted a book review of a new release from Packt Publishing - "jQuery 1.3 with PHP" (by Kae Verens).

This is the first book sent to me from Packt where I wasn't left dizzy from trying to understand just what it is the author was trying to get across. It looks like their proof-reader was awake for this one - totally awesome. [...] "jQuery 1.3 with PHP" is aimed "for PHP application developers who want to improve their user interfaces through jQuery's capabilities and responsiveness".

Ken mentions the main part of the book, the ten "quick tricks" and detailed sections looking at things like form validation, image manipulation, file management and writing your own jQuery plugins.

It was good to see Kae suggesting use of the PEAR Validate package (or similar) in the Forms and Forms Validation chapter (chapter 4). I had to wonder if there was a PEAR package for creating and shunting down jQuery validation rules to the client - and found that there isn't.

Overall Ken found the book "easy to read" and understandable and recommends it as good reading material for those wanting to combine this powerful duo.

You can also read Kae's own post here.

New on his blog, Federico Cargnelutti has posted his own review of a new book from Packt publishing - "Zend Framework 1.8 Web Application Development".

Zend Framework is one of the most popular and hottest open-source frameworks being used today. The number of books about Web development using Zend Framework has increased over the last couple of years.

He points out that the book isn't aimed at those just starting out with the Zend Framework. Readers should have a good grasp of the basics under their belt before starting. The book gives you a well-rounded look at developing Zend Framework-based applications and, as Federico notes, it's a "very well-written, nicely structured and full of highly practical advice" and that the book met his expectations.

Following some of his previous comments about the state of a certain publishing company, Keith Casey has come back with a a list of recommendations of books he'd suggest to both budding and seasoned developers alike.

I had a number of people ask what books I did I recommend. To be honest, that's one of the easiest questions I've gotten in a while. [...] There are about 5 books that I believe should be in nearly any software developer's library.

He actually includes two lists - one that's technology-agnostic (with titles like "The Pragmatic Programmer" and "Joel on Software") and a more software development centric list including "The Mythical Man Month" and "Producing Open Source Software".

You can also check out some of Travis Swicegood's opinions on reading material.

The Symfony blog has a new post with links to some books to help you work with the latest version of the framework - Symfony 1.3/1.4.

The symfony 1.3 and 1.4 final releases are just around the corner, and will probably be published next Monday. As you might have noticed, the symfony documentation have also been updated to take into account the changes made in those two new versions.

They mention the books "Getting Started with Symfony 1.3 & 1.4", the "Symfony 1.3 & 1.4 Reference Guide" and "Practical symfony 1.3 & 1.4". You can either read the contents of them online or you can order them directly from Amazon as a published book.

Giorgio Sironi has a new post talking about his upcoming eBook for all of those interesting in testing PHP applications - "Practical PHP Testing (Don't Let Your PHP be Eaten Alive)".

This publication focuses on testing and designing php code, with the aid of the leading tool for test automation, PHPUnit. Testing is a skill which is often neglected by php developers, but testable code inherit many benefits of the good design rules it is forced to observe.

The book will include the content of his testing series of posts, code examples, a glossary of commonly used terms and several Test-Driven Development exercises in each chapter. He looking to have it published during the beginning of December and will be released under a Creative Commons license. Here's a sneak peek at the cover.