Rating: 
Summary: Great Overview,Light on Details
Review: I have to question whether any of the other reviewers even looked at the table of contents before purchasing this book:Chapter 1. SQL, Vendor Implementations, and Some History - a general overview of SQL and where it comes from; Chapter 2. Foundational Concepts - The general theory behind how a sql works; Chapter 3. SQL Statements Command Reference - "Quick SQL Command Reference"; Chapter 4. SQL Functions - A standard function reference and vendor extensions; Chapter 5. Unimplemented SQL99 Commands - commands in the sql standard which aren't implemented by vendors (MS, Oracle); So as to what it says it covers, it does it quite well. Already being quite familiar with SQl, I still found this book to be useful both as a quick reference to commands as well as for a deeper understanding into how SQL works. This book makes an excellent companion to Transact-SQL Programming, also by Oreilly. If you need a complete SQL reference, get Transact-SQL. If you're looking for a background and introduction to SQL, get this book.
Rating:
Summary: great reference
Review: I love this book. I don't use it exclusively, but to support the other SQL books and reference manuals I have. This book helps me identify and understand the differences between the various systems and to write portable code. Most of SQL books and reference manuals don't provide any information about the portability, but by cross referencing with the nutshell book I can understand the impact of any given feature to my code's portability. You probably need three books: - your favorite SQL tutorial to figure out that latest join problem - your system's reference manual to understand the specific's on everything - the nutshell book to know if your code will work any place else This book probably isn't appropriate if: - you use one system exclusively and portability is a low priority -- you are probably better off with your system's reference manual - you are looking for a comprehensive reference manual/tutorial that describes everything
Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful Intro and Reference
Review: I too wonder if those that gave this book bad reviews actually looked at any section of the book. This is a reference book. And a wonderful one at that. It specifically says that it is a quick reference (on the cover). I found the book layout very useful and easy to follow. As far as content, the authors review each command (specific to each of the four DBMS's covered) in detail, with syntax. Sure, it left a couple of vendor specific items out, but if more information is needed, I recommend buying a book specifically on that product. I am a consultant and find that this book has more information in one place than several reference sites I would normally look in, and is light enough when traveling. I'm not saying this is the only book you'll ever need to buy, but for quick reference and comparison of SQL among MS SQL, Oracle, MySQL and PostgreSQL it is by far the most complete book on the market that I have been able to find.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best SQL books under 300+ pages.
Review: I've always been impressed with O'Reilly's ability to pack so much information into one of its "In a Nutshell" titles. By starting off with a little bit of history and then running head first into the core concepts and constructs of the language they allow you to hit the ground running. The bulk of this technical reference covers the wide variety of statements that SQL uses with in-depth explanation of each. Something that I was unaware of until reading this book is that SQL has preexisting functions aside from its cases. This wonderful reference has everything you'll need to start creating SQL databases for your specific distribution, (SQL, MS SQL, MySQL, Oracle, and PostgreSQL).
Rating:
Summary: One of the best SQL books under 300+ pages.
Review: I've always been impressed with O'Reilly's ability to pack so much information into one of its "In a Nutshell" titles. By starting off with a little bit of history and then running head first into the core concepts and constructs of the language they allow you to hit the ground running. The bulk of this technical reference covers the wide variety of statements that SQL uses with in-depth explanation of each. Something that I was unaware of until reading this book is that SQL has preexisting functions aside from its cases. This wonderful reference has everything you'll need to start creating SQL databases for your specific distribution, (SQL, MS SQL, MySQL, Oracle, and PostgreSQL).
Rating:
Summary: good choice if you work with more than one flavor of SQL
Review: If you find yourself tripping over the different flavors of SQL in MS SQL Server, MySQL, Postgre, and Oracle, then buy this book. This is not a good book to learn SQL or set theory. Nor is this a good book to use to learn how to manage or tune a database. This is a small enough reference that you can easily carry it out of the house or office.
Rating:
Summary: very fine reference book
Review: in a nutshell series gives a quick reference of each flavor of sql, depending on the database software you use. it is particularly useful to people that come from oracle background and want to learn sql server, or the other way around. whatever your background this book gives you an opportunity to come up to speed with the database of your choice. great job!
Rating: 
Summary: No SQL knowledge needed to reject this book
Review: My shortest skimming time till rejection award goes to this book.
The first boxed note lead to an instant no-buy decision.
The authors take the space in this short book to note
that set theory was invented by the Russian mathematician Georg Cantor.
1. The topic of this note does not belong in a quick reference for SQL.
2. Being born in St. Petersburg did not make Georg Ferdinand Ludwig Philipp Cantor
any more Russian than being published by O'Reilly could make this book worth buying.
Rating:
Summary: The Casual Users Reference
Review: Reviewers seem to be pretty mixed on this book; Casual SQL users like it, SQL Programmers don't. From reading the book, I would agree. If I were a SQL Programmer, this would be a terrible reference, as it does give the basics for MS-SQL, MySQL, Oracle and PostgreSQL (which does tends to look a little muddled for those of us who scan a lot). But I am not a SQL Programmer. I am a casual SQL user, who writes the occasional query for Access and MS-SQL databases. I know the general syntax and base language (which this book did show me), and any time I get in a jam, I've been able to solve my issue using this reference. It was worth the purchase and has never let me down.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Quick Reference Guide
Review: SQL in a Nutshell is just what the name implies: a quick-reference guide for SQL that helps you locate USEFUL information QUICKLY. The author does a great job of identifying the most common uses of many commands, while avoiding endless detail on all the obscure variations. This no-nonsense, get-to-the-point approach enhances my productivity and fits most of my needs in a reference guide. Another winner in the Nutshell series!
| 
