HaloPlayer - 1:32 pm on Oct 7, 2012 (gmt 0)

g1smd thanks for your efforts, I got it to work, the problem was in relation to the code:
^book/([0-9]+)

I had the numerical value (0-9) and should have had alphabetical (A-Z) and you did mention this in your second post, I apologise for not paying attention this this, I did not realise how picky the code can be, I should have asked what that section of code does.

I have added alphabetical and numerical values as well as underscore. I recall you saying avoid underscores, I would be better with dashes (-) is this purely because of the way the code handles underscores or does it also have a SEO value?

So others who wan't to do similar, here is my final code:
Options +FollowSymlinks
RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME}\.php -f
RewriteRule ^book/([-a-zA-Z0-9_]+) /book.php?name=$1 [L]

Thank you again for your efforts g1smd.

PS what does the [L] mean at the end of the RewriteRule? And also is the Options +FollowSymlinks actually required?