I don't know the book, but what goes wrong?
1) is mysql server configured and does it run
- check the processes (ps)
- try to connect using mysql
2) does apache run
- check the processes (ps)
- try
http://localhost in your browser; there should be a default index.htm or index.html so you should see some kind of page without an error
3) is php associated in the apache configuration?
Can you post your php-code that attempts to connect and the error message that you get.