Rating: 
Summary: Good Theory Book
Review: I found the book to be excellent complementary material for the examination I was preparing to take. The book is well-organized, thorough, and extensive on theory although a bit light on the practical aspects of databases. I purchased this book because Excelsior College recommended it as a study aid for the ICCP Data Resources certification examination. Nevertheless, if you are preparing for the ICCP exam you will still have to buy the Bird review or similar because of the way the exams are set up.
Rating: 
Summary: Complete waste of paper, poorly written book.
Review: I had to buy this book for my graduate level course, and what a waste of money and paper. The authors of this book are completely out of touch with current database technologies in the market. This book contains superfluous and invalid assumptions, and topics. Not only the materials are not correct, but the format it is presented, is very confusing and useless. I could not rate this book less than 1, otherwise I would. If your instructor is asking to buy this book for any classes, just drop the course.
Rating: 
Summary: FDBS seems to be a good book
Review: I have read only the first chapter and I liked the way the book is organized. One problem though, bookstores ran out of copies already and almost could not find it.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent book, practical theory.
Review: I originally purchased this book for a class in database design. It's one of the few books I go back to. It has a lot of theory and depending if you are looking for something purely practical it may not be the best choice. But if you want to learn the reasons behind the rules or like having as much detail as you want then this is a great book. I have designed databases with it as my primary reference. I think every serious data modeler should have read it.
Rating:
Summary: Good Book !
Review: I reccomend this book for all CS students. It's almost complete.
Rating:
Summary: Not what I was looking for
Review: I used FUNDAMENTALS OF DATABASE SYSTEMS (Third Edition) in a graduate class I took on databases, and I've kept referring to the book since then. As a student, I'll admit that it was tough to get through this book at times. It's dense and almost impenetrable, but it packs a huge amount of information and is amazingly comprehensive.It puts theory well ahead of practical matters, which gives the novice a good foundation from which to really get a firm handle on how all these pieces fit together. The assumption is that the student knows nothing, even B-trees are devoted several pages of explanation. The student who does know nothing will doubtless find this wealth of data to be overwhelming at first (as I did). But stick at it. This textbook is not for people looking at how to simply plug things into Microsoft Access. It's for programmers seriously looking to gain a strong background in what the fundamental elements of database components and systems are. The text starts off simply, merely explaining in general terms what databases are and who will use them. Then we quickly move into modeling how relational databases work. Data Modeling and Entity-Relationship Models are described in-depth, and the book comes back to ER modeling and mapping repeatedly. Object Models are covered, as well as the best ways of sorting records and the best way to index tables. The authors offer a wealth of information concerning the SQL language -- so much so, that there's much that I simply haven't used since reading about it, although I'm sure that more advanced database programmers in the audience will find it very enlightening. It continues on with Object-Oriented Database technologies, functional dependencies, and normal forms (first, second, third and Boyce-Codd normal form). Higher system views of database architecture are also discussed, giving us an understanding of how different parts are working together. Optimization, recovery, maintenance and security are naturally touched on, as are distributed databases and the basic client/server architecture relationship. As you can see, this is all very theoretical, although some real-life explanations and examples are brought in. But it is by building up a solid knowledge base that will allow the reader to truly understand systems when encountered in the classroom or in the workplace. I've only touched on a handful of things that the book details in its 1000+ pages. It's packed with mathematical formulas, computer science algorithms, schema design, and the minutua of every database operation. Its approach doesn't make things easy, but it does contain everything you'd want to know about a given item. I had to read various sections multiple times for my coursework, obviously, but every time I studied a passage, I would uncover details and concepts that I had missed the last time. Even now as reference material, I always find myself learning (or relearning) something when consulting this book. Although in my current job I don't require a massive amount of database knowledge, I still find this an extremely useful reference guide. To be perfectly honest, I don't know if I would find this text helpful if I hadn't taken a course that taught from it. It's certainly intimidating to a beginner. But if you're a moderate to intermediate database programmer, you'll find this an invaluable guide to filling in the gaps in your knowledge. It may be a bit too dense and scary to serve as your only teacher, but you'll probably find it an important one.
Rating:
Summary: Fundamental, though not overly friendly
Review: I used FUNDAMENTALS OF DATABASE SYSTEMS (Third Edition) in a graduate class I took on databases, and I've kept referring to the book since then. As a student, I'll admit that it was tough to get through this book at times. It's dense and almost impenetrable, but it packs a huge amount of information and is amazingly comprehensive. It puts theory well ahead of practical matters, which gives the novice a good foundation from which to really get a firm handle on how all these pieces fit together. The assumption is that the student knows nothing, even B-trees are devoted several pages of explanation. The student who does know nothing will doubtless find this wealth of data to be overwhelming at first (as I did). But stick at it. This textbook is not for people looking at how to simply plug things into Microsoft Access. It's for programmers seriously looking to gain a strong background in what the fundamental elements of database components and systems are. The text starts off simply, merely explaining in general terms what databases are and who will use them. Then we quickly move into modeling how relational databases work. Data Modeling and Entity-Relationship Models are described in-depth, and the book comes back to ER modeling and mapping repeatedly. Object Models are covered, as well as the best ways of sorting records and the best way to index tables. The authors offer a wealth of information concerning the SQL language -- so much so, that there's much that I simply haven't used since reading about it, although I'm sure that more advanced database programmers in the audience will find it very enlightening. It continues on with Object-Oriented Database technologies, functional dependencies, and normal forms (first, second, third and Boyce-Codd normal form). Higher system views of database architecture are also discussed, giving us an understanding of how different parts are working together. Optimization, recovery, maintenance and security are naturally touched on, as are distributed databases and the basic client/server architecture relationship. As you can see, this is all very theoretical, although some real-life explanations and examples are brought in. But it is by building up a solid knowledge base that will allow the reader to truly understand systems when encountered in the classroom or in the workplace. I've only touched on a handful of things that the book details in its 1000+ pages. It's packed with mathematical formulas, computer science algorithms, schema design, and the minutua of every database operation. Its approach doesn't make things easy, but it does contain everything you'd want to know about a given item. I had to read various sections multiple times for my coursework, obviously, but every time I studied a passage, I would uncover details and concepts that I had missed the last time. Even now as reference material, I always find myself learning (or relearning) something when consulting this book. Although in my current job I don't require a massive amount of database knowledge, I still find this an extremely useful reference guide. To be perfectly honest, I don't know if I would find this text helpful if I hadn't taken a course that taught from it. It's certainly intimidating to a beginner. But if you're a moderate to intermediate database programmer, you'll find this an invaluable guide to filling in the gaps in your knowledge. It may be a bit too dense and scary to serve as your only teacher, but you'll probably find it an important one.
Rating:
Summary: Emphasizes database theory over practice.
Review: If you are looking for a "How to" cookbook for a particular database or application, this is probably the wrong book for you. However, if you are looking for a in-depth discussion of the history and theory of database management systems, it would be hard to find a better book. The book would probably be best accompanying a college course on database theory, or for someone who wants to understand the theory overlying all DBMS systems. It is short on examples of specific applications, but does have valuable discussion of both Oracle 8 and Access 97. Another nice feature of this book is that it has been recently updated and has much new information about object database theory. I have been studying this book with others, and we have joked about the copyright date of 2000 - hey we're reading next year's book!
Rating:
Summary: Satya Prabhakar
Review: If you want to own one book on the critical and crucial subject of database systems management, this is it. The book is comprehensive, lucid and highly instructive. used as the standard class text book all over the world, it also covers the more modern ER and Object-Oriented database management concepts very effectively. The third edition is a huge improvement over the last one.
Rating:
Summary: The book rocks!
Review: It is a very good book for readers who have no prior knowledge of databases. The writers have arranged the chapters in a very systematic manner that enables you to gradually get a grasp of the subject. In fact the book would also prove good for readers who may have worked on DBMS softwares but not really knowing the "theory of databases". Excellent book for developing your database concepts - concepts that go a long way. A perfect book to be used as a text book in schools. The section on "Design Techniques" is something you would find yourself refering back to even when you're implementing real world systems.
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