Rating: 
Summary: Demystifies databases
Review: This book should be retitled "Databases for professionals". It gets right to the point. Others may dispute its academic merits or the thoroughness of its editing, but it gave me what I needed to actually do my job. It states its principles in precise language with examples.
Rating: 
Summary: Not very useful
Review: This book was a required textbook for my graduate database course. The theory that was presented was accurate, but was unnecessarily bogged bown with mathmatical representations of even the basic concepts and some material was somewhat dated. More real-world examples of the concepts would have been useful. I don't recommend buying this book unless it is required for a course - there are many other database-oriented resources available that would be more readable.
Rating: 
Summary: vikon
Review: This is a most comprehensive book for database at the same time having enough depth and I have used this book for 2 courses and read it in entirely.It covers every area of the db from realtional models,database design,system impelmentation techniques to advanced concepts.If you want to know about databases in entierty, this is the book.
I have read some of the negative reviews, guys this is a not book for learning sql or for that matter is not titled database for dummies.I agree that you need some background in computer science but I donot think there is advanced math in it.
Please READ THE TITLE and the abstract and probably then make your views about the book.
I give it 5 stars because it achieves what it desires brilliantly
Rating:
Summary: for professionals
Review: this is one of the best books if you ever wanted to know anything about databases. I think this isn't a tutorial book or a book for self study on this topic for beginners - but if you ever need to look up for an profound explication on some database matter this will be the book for you.
This gives you insights into your database, if you are on the frontier from application developer that has to understand what a database realy does.
Rating:
Summary: Good book on Database system
Review: To a reader who wants to just learn database design and implementation, this book may overkill, or can pick up what is needed based on the guide given in the preface of the book. Also the binding of the book is excellent in my case.Some reader comments that the book is too hard or has too many definitions. Indeed, there are a lot of definitions introduced in the book, so the understanding of the contents may be masked. A reader would be more comfortable with reading this book with introductory knowledge of programming, sets, logic, and hands-on experience with one of DBMS. I spent time on filpping pages back many times to refer to the definitons and figures, but considering the quality of the book, that kind of annoyance is negligible to me. (however no glossory is provided). A self-study reader should be aware that no answer is provided to the problem sets. I appreciate the concise, accurate and careful writing, which makes this book 5 stars to me. A self-study reader should love to see a little diagram in preface that shows which chapter shoud be covered before reading another chapter. There are three versions of this 3rd ed. So a reader is advised to pick one from: the book alone, the book w/ e-book (electronic copy of this book in cdrom), and the book w/ Oracle emphasis (w/ cdrom). Just click on one of the authors hyperlink. I also found some additional materials available on web by one the authors at GaTech. Chekc them out.
Rating: 
Summary: thick/bad db book
Review: Try to avoid this book if you are not a faculty with a lot of db books on shelf already, or a beginner without experience on db, you will be dead if you are in the first db course with this book. Not clear with the writting is not a sin, but the organization of content is terrible,one has to refer back to chapter 7 frequently from other chapters 8, 14, 18 etc. Also some obvious data errors with Chapter 18 on query optimization. When the record of employee was referred as 6000, 5000, or 10000 in the same chapter's sections, make understanding very difficult.
Rating:
Summary: A Book that tells you the truth about how DBMS look today
Review: Unfortunaqtely I was one of the unlucky that did advanced database systems without going first into basic database structures. Seeing this book in my library was a trip of my eye when I was desperately seeking some book which would sign the theory I was taught and was made to be referenced by papers! This book has everything that is going to be standard in the future. Days of single-user database systems is going to end and we better understand this quickly. With this book I will not be guilty failing the course because I will have this book as a guide to try again. Wish I could see this book earlier... And yes I am a Mathematician but believe me this in the future wont make a bit of difference. But I quite agree this book is a little too much to be given to kids...
Rating:
Summary: Good on relational theory, poor on object orientation
Review: We use this book in a theoretical relational database course at the University of Oslo. The book gives an in-depth introduction to databases. It attempts to cover object oriented databases as well as relational, but there are quite a few errors in those sections of the book. If your primary interests are OO, get another book. If you need the theoretical fundaments of relational databases then this book is for you!
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