maybe this is a documentation issue, maybe a defect.
I tested the "popup" option of the link_to helper in IE.
It works as long as the Window Title parameter does not contain a space.
In the book, the example is
<?php echo link_to('add to cart', 'shoppingCart/add?id=100', array(
'popup' => array('Window title', 'width=310,height=400,left=320,top=0')
)) ?>
=> <a onclick="window.open(this.href,'Window title','width=310,height=400,left=320,top=0');return false;"
href="/fo_dev.php/shoppingCart/add/id/100.html">add to cart</a>
From my testing, this does not work in IE.
Changing 'Window title' by 'Windowtitle' does.