Eh, do you know any other languages like Java? If so then learning PHP is not tough at all. If you do not know JAVA or anything similar then find a project you want to do and work on it. For me is was a forum board. Take a look at w3 and try to build a very simple function or script (like a login system) then expand on it. Add more functions. Make the code neater, etc...
And bam you know PHP
PS, it might work for you but books were never really my thing.