I just got a book on MySQL and I have some question

First off, when I enter the commands that I'M getting from the book, commands like "SHOW DATABASES;", "USE database;", etc, it says something about a syntax error.

Also, why do books like this just jump start you into commands? I would think they would want you to load a database into MySQL so you would have something to work with. Or maybe walk you through creating a new database and working with it. Thanks for any and all help.

The commands you are using are correct so I must assume you have some other issue. Are you using the query browser in MySQL Administrator? If not, I suggest you open the administrator then click on catalogs and see if you actually have any databases there. Also, you should download the workbench, it will help with database creation.