Trying to load Marcel Gagne's Ubuntu Linux cd

I tried to load Ubuntu Linux from the cd that was included with the book "Moving to Ubuntu Linux" book. It looked like it started to load ok but stopped. The last thing on the screen was "Running Local Boot Scripts". That's where things stopped. There was a blinking cursor. I left it set for about 30 minutes, but nothing happened. Any help would be greatly appreciated. My laptop is running Vista.

Thanks

Carmen Gianforte