Rating: 
Summary: Hard to read, little pay-off
Review: I'm a Java Certified Programmer for the Java 2 Platform. I bought this book to begin learning additional APIs. The preface claimed that only a basic knowledge of Java and some understanding of SQL was required. The book was not as advertised. Yes, the book did cover basic and advanced JDBC in two very short chapters, and provided a summary of the features of JDBC Optional Package without giving any details in a third. After reading these chapters I feel I have had an introduction to the subject, but no real depth. The rest of the book takes off into very difficult Java topics (RMI, JNDI, EJB, Java Patterns, Distributed Architectures, Persistence, Swing...)proportedly to demonstrate how JDBC is used in the "real world." From time to time I was actually able to understand some of it, most of the time not. The author did not provide a high level introduction to these topics, which I would have found useful. Rather, the author jumped into the bowels of these subjects in a page or two. The language the author uses is often very exacting such as one might expect to find in a specification. The exacting language and limited number of illustrations caused me to have to re-read many sections several times often to remain confused. The majority of this book was way too ambitious for someone with the background the Prefaces the reader should have. This book may be very useful for a reader with a more advanced background. After I have read several other books covering the "unadvertised-bonus" topics which comprise most of this book more slowly, I will try to read it again.
Rating:
Summary: Hard to read, little pay-off
Review: I'm a Java Certified Programmer for the Java 2 Platform. I bought this book to begin learning additional APIs. The preface claimed that only a basic knowledge of Java and some understanding of SQL was required. The book was not as advertised. Yes, the book did cover basic and advanced JDBC in two very short chapters, and provided a summary of the features of JDBC Optional Package without giving any details in a third. After reading these chapters I feel I have had an introduction to the subject, but no real depth. The rest of the book takes off into very difficult Java topics (RMI, JNDI, EJB, Java Patterns, Distributed Architectures, Persistence, Swing...)proportedly to demonstrate how JDBC is used in the "real world." From time to time I was actually able to understand some of it, most of the time not. The author did not provide a high level introduction to these topics, which I would have found useful. Rather, the author jumped into the bowels of these subjects in a page or two. The language the author uses is often very exacting such as one might expect to find in a specification. The exacting language and limited number of illustrations caused me to have to re-read many sections several times often to remain confused. The majority of this book was way too ambitious for someone with the background the Prefaces the reader should have. This book may be very useful for a reader with a more advanced background. After I have read several other books covering the "unadvertised-bonus" topics which comprise most of this book more slowly, I will try to read it again.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting, but not very practical
Review: If you already know some flavor of SQL (e.g. you have an Oracle background) and you're trying to figure out how to do stuff in Java that you might have done in PL/SQL... don't buy this book. Almost the last 100 pages are devoted to the Javadoc for the JDBC APIs... which to me was a total waste of paper. Out of the remaining pages, only pages 25-101 explain how to use the JDBC API and even then what it covers is so basic you can figure it out yourself from the Javadocs. The middle section on "Applied JDBC" is interesting but of little use if you're working on a team that has already figured out their architecture. It also reminds me of old home computer magazines that featured pages and pages of source listings and little substance. Additionally, I suspect it is too complex for those readers that actually find the first section useful.
Rating: 
Summary: Very bad and not deep book at all
Review: It's not a book about JDBC API,it's a book about how to write and design programs.Contains a few examples.Author only talks and talks but doesn't describe and explain JDBC itself. Even documentation is better.
Rating:
Summary: Not enough detail on JDBC!
Review: Part 1 of this book skims over JDBC, and the later parts go into irrelevant details on non-JDBC topics. A third of the book is wasted on useless reference material that you can get for free off Sun's website. You're only getting about 100 pages actually on JDBC in this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Good on 3-tier architecture, but WAY too much code!
Review: Really a book on Java database programming using a middle-tier architecture (good concept). The application is great, but Chapter 6, the heart of the book where the application is presented and discussed, contains over twenty pages (in one case over ten pages straight) of source code! Don't buy it unless you plan to sit down and go over Chapter 6 with a friend, or use it in a class. It will stop you dead in your tracks! The author did not fulfill his responsibility to write a book, he just wrote a good application. The coverage of JDBC is limited.
Rating:
Summary: Good quality second edition
Review: The author does a good job of covering new concepts as relevant to Java 2 platform and JDBC 2.0. This book is vastly revamped and is better than the first edition. Though the author rightly says in the preface that this may not be the book for the beginners, I feel it may not be an ideal JDBC reference book either. The emphasis of this book is on how to build a robust middle tier that interacts with a relational database using JDBC. Though several examples appear in the book, they could be categorized as relevant for developing a framework than useful for learning by example. Many books that cover EJB, Servlets and JSP now a days provide excellent stand-alone examples of using JDBC. If you are looking for a book that gives sample "design patterns" for building a middle tier, then this one is for you. If you want to learn JDBC by example, this may not be the book you would want to buy.
Rating: 
Summary: JDBC, RMI all in one book
Review: The best Java book covers 3-tier application. I found this book covers RMI is even better than other "JAVA RMI" book. The code is well organized and use good design patterns.
Rating: 
Summary: A good book worth reading, the unexpected is cool.
Review: The best part of this book is in discussing the process of designing a distributed 3-tier application using Java. The writing is clear and elegant. Figures are impressive. Maybe JDBC itself does not have enough interesting content, the author spent much effort to explore the multiple tier computing model and RMI instead. So, the inside is not exactly what you expected from the book title. It should be, as Reese commented, Distributed 3-tier Client/Server with RMI and JDBC. I think many people come to this book for detailed JDBC programming information. Anyone who programmed non-trivial JDBC would know that there are a lot bolts and nuts to tackle. To this effect, the book is quite thin. You should not expect this book to help you much in JDBC trouble-shootings. Nevertheless, it is a good guide to teach you design and deploy your JDBC programs on the Internet. As another comment said, I found this book a pleasant surprise, too.
Rating: 
Summary: Now covers JDBC 2.0, row sets, and EJB persistence!
Review: The first edition of this book was very well-received. Most reader suggestions from improvements tended to focus on two areas. First, that the book more heavily emphasized database programming and less JDBC. Secondly, the advanced stuff was too interwoven with the more novice stuff. This second edition I think builds on the book's basic strength, showing how JDBC works in the real world while addressing those two issues. First, the second edition has been reorganized into a first section on learning the JDBC API and second section on applied JDBC. As a result, you can use the book to learn JDBC before diving into the hard stuff. The JDBC section covers all of JDBC, including new stuff like scrollable result sets and the JDBC Optional Package (row sets, data sources, etc.). All of the books on JDBC, however, can teach you JDBC. This book's key strength has always been teaching you how to use JDBC in real world distributed Java apps. The second edition does this even better than the first. The second edition places JDBC in the context of J2EE APIs like EJB, JNDI, and RMI.
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