SQL Queries for Mere Mortals: A Hands-On Guide to Data Manipulation in SQL

Sams Teach Yourself SQL in 10 Minutes, Third Edition

Database Design

Database Design for Mere Mortals: A Hands-On Guide to Relational Database Design, Second Edition

Format: Paperback
Author: Michael J. Hernandez
ReleaseDate: 05 March, 2003
Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional
Rating:

Beginners Only, Could Be Shorter
If you have even a passing familiarity with things like field domains or records you may find this book too basic. This book is okay if you are a complete beginner or if you are interested in a consultant-like modeling methodology. It could have been about half the length. There is substantial repetition and a lot of ink given to hypothetical user interviews and documenting one's design. The author notes that the goal is to get generic concepts not the specific examples, but I would have liked more examples as illustrative of the applicability of the generic concepts. It's easy to say generically that a table should only include relevant fields--but more examples could help teach when and how and why to split up related things into separate tables. This book is very thin on that sort of example. The book is billed as a "software-independent approach" which it is. At the end, your design will exist on paper; you'll still need to learn an app like Access to create the physical database--and some things, like application-specific business rules get implemented at that stage. One more comment: it could be shorter, and it could use a glossary.

Rough Draft on Generalized Database
. !!! Pathetic !!! .. excuse me, PATHETIC !
Buying this book online had taught me to FIRST READ the REVIEWS and if at all possible look at the local bookstore before you buy online. I keep picking this book up, and then putting it down ,,, and if ever a book needed to be put down, it is this one.
Normalization, page 36 and page 39 ,,, kind of.
Save your time, save your money . . . this isn't for mere mortals, it is for someone who doesn't need to know about Database Design. Move along folks, there's nothing to see here . . .
it's just an accident.

Bad . . . just bad.
Where it could just give you concepts and syntax and an explanation of database structure, it goes on long-winded life lessons about how to interview people and other non-technical stuff. This book is not good. Maybe I am just partial to technical references over process books, but there is almost nothing of technical value in here. Written by a Microsoft guy, it continues the Microsoft tradition of hiding the computer from you instead of just teaching you how the computer works. It's like trying to teach someone tennis but not letting them know they have a racket in their hand. It describes how to swing in laborious detail, when it would simply be better to show you what you've got in your hand.