Rating: 
Summary: Reasonable introduction, a bit lightweight for professionals
Review: A decent enough introductory book, but it just lacks a certain something. Certainly it introduces the main concepts of Entity-Relationship diagrams and how to go about designing databases. It also describes the development of databases within the wider context of developing systems, and includes chapters on user interface design (which draw much from Alan Cooper's "About Face").However, I felt that certain topics such as entity supertypes/subtypes and resolving many-many relationships were not explained clearly enough for beginners to fully understand, whilst explanations of other topics were either a little loose in their use of language (e.g. talking about "relations with duplicate rows"), or not sufficiently in-depth enough for the professional database designer. Perhaps I expected too much from the book's claims of "professional-quality relational database development" and "develop robust, professional-level database systems". Claims to be an introduction for "beginning database designers" are more on target. I think the book will be most useful for new database designers/application developers who haven't studied a course on relational databases before, and who need a straightforward introduction to database design and development.
Rating: 
Summary: Very disappointing
Review: For anyone wanting to know the mechanics of relational database design. I used this book when my college text books came up wanting.
Rating: 
Summary: Establish a Firm Relational DB Foundation
Review: For anyone wanting to know the mechanics of relational database design. I used this book when my college text books came up wanting.
Rating:
Summary: Clear, concise, comprehensive
Review: Great right from the start. This book takes the complex subject of relational database design and makes it understandable without sacrificing detail. The real-world examples and analogies are very clear without putting too much extraneous detail between you and the concept. Ms. Riordan gently guides the reader through a sea of acronyms and obscure terms without skipping any detail. At the same time, there is no feeling of having deviated too far from the subject at hand. This is one of the few computer texts I have read whose author is not only an expert on the subject but an excellent teacher as well. A "must-read" for anyone looking to learn about database design.
Rating: 
Summary: A very convoluted text on database design.
Review: Having designed a few databases, I thought that this book would add to my knowledge. And she seems to been there and done it. Unfortunately, (I am currently at page 68) I find the style of writing very fraustrating. Rebecca Riordan makes simple subjects and concepts that could be explained easily, extremely difficult to grasp. I could not explain to you so far what I have read. She begins her book with relational database theory, not properly explaining what she is talking about and then using this as the basis for the rest of her book. I found the glossary quite useless and most definitely incomplete. In a word - gobbledegook. She might know what she is talking about, but I sure don't! I hope that PC World will take it back.
Rating:
Summary: Easy to understand, great for learning basic concepts
Review: I read this book twice! It's great for learning the basic relational database concepts. I had been looking for quite some time for something that covered not only database design but work processes as well, and this book fit the bill.
Rating:
Summary: Great book, teaches alot more than you'd expect!
Review: I started reading this book thinking it was only going to discuss the details of building tables, queries and realtionships. It not only went far past that, but I found this book to be an excellent guide to managing database projects as an independant consultant (such as the author) would. Like another reviewer has mentioned. This is an unknown gem to anyone preparing for the 70-100 MCSD test. There are many great insights in this book that you'll need to know to pass the 70-100. Too bad this book isn't reccomended study material for that test. I also think the autor does a great job at explaining somewhat complicated subjects like join and union queries and relational algebra in a manner that is fairly easy to understand. Not many database books out there can do that. I know this book is thin (320 pages. only 260 actual reading material with 60 for index, appendices,etc) as far as Microsoft Press books go but, this book has been the best MS Press book I've read so far!
Rating:
Summary: Great book, teaches alot more than you'd expect!
Review: I started reading this book thinking it was only going to discuss the details of building tables, queries and realtionships. It not only went far past that, but I found this book to be an excellent guide to managing database projects as an independant consultant (such as the author) would. Like another reviewer has mentioned. This is an unknown gem to anyone preparing for the 70-100 MCSD test. There are many great insights in this book that you'll need to know to pass the 70-100. Too bad this book isn't reccomended study material for that test. I also think the autor does a great job at explaining somewhat complicated subjects like join and union queries and relational algebra in a manner that is fairly easy to understand. Not many database books out there can do that. I know this book is thin (320 pages. only 260 actual reading material with 60 for index, appendices,etc) as far as Microsoft Press books go but, this book has been the best MS Press book I've read so far!
Rating:
Summary: There are times when I whish for the six star
Review: I think that every application that I've been involved with has had a database behind it. I know that this is not always the case for other developers, but I think that in fact, most applications will need to store and retrieve information. My feeling is that there are a lot of application developers out there that would find the subject of this book very interesting. Building a fundamentally correct Database System is not an easy task. I think that even experienced people do have their doubts about what would be the best solution to a particular problem. Because there are not any pre-made solutions for every application, each case must be looked at independently and will have different solutions. Additionally, I believe that many of the problems with the database schema will only show up very late in the development cycle. At this point it's very difficult to make major changes the underlying schema because you've already laid the foundation for your application. If the design of the schema is a difficult task then the solution is reading, and learning about the subject. In my opinion the problem here is that many of the texts that I've read are too much theory and are not focussed on the real problems experienced in the day-to-day workplace. This is what I think is one of the strongest points in this book. The author has 17 year of experience in the design of database systems. This gives her the chance of understanding first hand what the problems are faced in the real world and combine that with a solid comprehension of the theory of design. The result is the best of the two world's, making this text a fundamental reference for the design of working database systems. Another important issue to point out is that the text of the book is so interesting, that you can pass the book to member's of the team not responsible for design, so they can understand the why certain issues are handled in a specific manner. The book is divided in three main subjects Relational Database Theory, Designing Relational Databases Systems and Designing the User Interface. Up front I think that the inclusion of the last part is a major improvement and makes the difference between a purely academic approach and real world approach. In my opinion this is not the ultimate word in any of the 3 main subjects, and further I think that this was not the intention of the author of the book. This text will bring organization to the reader's concepts of database design and a stepping stone to better understanding the underlying theory. Those readers wishing to continue their education will appreciate the excellent bibliography at the end of the book. Well if my personal experience means anything, I was very pleased after reading this book. I've changed a lot of the ways our group of developers approached designing databases. The book was a great help organizing our concepts of database design and more importantly it helped a lot in consolidating the way we plan our new projects. In my humble opinion, this is a "MUST BUY BOOK". Pedro Gil
Rating:
Summary: Very disappointing
Review: I've been extremely pleased with Microsoft Press books in general, so I was very excited to find this title. However, after reading from cover to cover, I have to say this book has several major problems that severely limits its value. First, the title is misleading. The book does NOT teach you how to design a database system. There is very little about design in this book. There are chapters on requirements analysis and so forth, which have nothing to do with database design, but none on the actual design decisions necessary to create a usable database system. Not even a single case study is offered. Second, there are no examples in this book. There are only a handful of lines of SQL code in the whole book. Worse, those few lines are not explained, and are overly complicated for the concept they are intended to demonstrate. Third, the book offers few practical lessons or tips. The bulk of the text is a poorly explained rehash of a textbook on database systems. The author's experience in the area never comes through in the text. The reader is treated to definitions of the Normal forms, but is not told how to get it into that normal form, or even when it is advisable and when it is not advisable to put the database into that form. Fourth, the descriptions are not very clear. I already knew about the normal forms, for example, but had a hard time understanding what the author was trying to say in the description of them. Most database concepts are very simple, and have been better explained in other books. Finally, the organization of the material displayed no logical progression. There were concepts tossed in here and there, with no sense of building one concept on the other. Worse, terms were used but not explained until pages or chapters later. I recommend you save your money to purchase some of the other titles available on this subject. You'll be glad you did.
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