Rating: 
Summary: MySQL & mSQL
Review: When I was considering purchasing this book, there were only three reviews available. One review thought the book worth the reviewer's trouble - the other two consigned it to the trash-can of history. So I closed my eyes, crossed my fingers (of my non-mouse hand) and clicked the Add-to-Shopping-Trolley button. I'm glad I did. I now have a hard-copy, handy reference to MySQL and mSQL, that covers installation, setup and configuration of the software. It covers programming access to the two database engines, too, with overviews of the Perl::DBI and Python modules. Accessing data with PHP is given a brief look too. The documentation accompanying Perl, Python and PHP are the ultimate references, so I think it unreasonable to expect more than an overview focussing on any more than the the database engine interface. I needed a small to medium database engine with a CGI interface and/or an SQL interface. MySQL and mSQL both seemed to fit the bill - but which one would be best for MY purposes? I hadn't had the time to visit their respective web-sites and read the on-line documentation. This book, if I guessed O'Reilly's intent correctly, and if my reading between the lines of the few reviews available was correct, would give me both the information I needed to choose between them,and the installation, setup and use coverage I would also need for the chosen engine in a handy reference form - I assume the chosen engine will come with more comprehensive information. The book is exactly what I expected. It is written for the experienced (intermediate to advanced) system administrator/dba (data base administrator) enabling them to quickly install and set up a medium-sized database engine. The tools provided to administer the database server are also covered sufficiently for the experienced. If you expect to learn SQL, Database administration, database query programming and more, then you will be severely disappointed. I give the book 4 stars. It may be worth more, but editorial and proof-reading errors (O'Reilly books used to be better) interrupt one's reading. The example code has occasional errors but then I didn't expect it to be gospel but rather an illustration of how-to. I was a little bemused at first by the switching back and forth between the two engines. As I read more, I came to appreciate the approach of treating MySQL and mSQL as one and highlighting the differences between them. If you are a webmaster, have some programming experience, some dba experience and are at home in the L-Unix environment, then you will find the book useful.
Rating: 
Summary: Not the greatest, but worth buying.
Review: I have to agree that this is not one of O'Reilly's better titles. I think the second edition if there is one should be carefully reviewed and edited. In the authors defense I do not think this book was meant to be an intro text to database programming. If that is what you are looking for in a "language" book try "Access Database Design @ Programming" by Steven Roman, Also published by O'Reilly. His Relational Database tutorial is thorough and succinct. The mixture of mSQL and MySQL in the discussions regarding more DB administration and capabilities is excellent and possibly the best part of the book. If you are trying to decide which DB to use you should definately buy this book. As far as typos and accuracy I have never read a book in 35 years that did not have both problems. I know a lot of software bugs get blamed on examples but I haven't noticed anything wrong with the JDBC or C implementation material that I used. Overall I give the book three stars:
1. It's too expensive for what is in it.
2. It fails at being Rigorous like I expect from O'Reily.
3. Youv'e only got two choices on MySQL as a far as I know and O'Reilly was cool enough to print one.
4. I have 6 1/2 feet of OReilly books that I have collected over the years. This is not up to their standards in my IMHO.
Rating:
Summary: Satisfied and a very good reference
Review: I have had this book for 3 years now and it is still on my "easy-access bookshelf". I use MySQL and can't comment on the mSQL portion. I can't claim that it is the best book to learn from, but it was adequate for me at the time...the mere fact that I still use this book so frequently is enough for me to recommend anyone to buy it as a MySQL reference book.
Rating:
Summary: A good overall introduction to SQL databases...
Review: This books provides a good all around introduction to databases, SQL and the mSQL and MySQL database servers. It tends to favor MySQL a bit more, but this seems appropriate given that MySQL is now far more advanced than mSQL. It also serves as a pretty good reference for both servers (though, by no means a complete one). It explains some database building basics, as well as what 2NF and 3NF mean (and how to make your database 3NF). It contains several useful chapters on different APIs to MySQL and mSQL including a very helpful introduction to the Perl DBI. I still find the reference pages pretty helpful, but for people looking for an advanced reference, I'd say look elsewhere (perhaps "Managing and Using MySQL" (ASIN 0596002114)). If you're just learning SQL or MySQL, this is a great book!
Rating: 
Summary: Very disappointed.
Review: I was very disappointed with this book. So were two coworkers who have looked at it. This book is not up to the traditional O'Reilly quality. (In fact, I'm annoyed enough to say that Que should have published this book...) Only about 30% of the book is useful material. Most examples and explanations are sketchy -- almost useless. If you already knew SQL, there's very little to learn from this book. If you didn't know SQL, this book does a poor job of teaching it to you. If the book stuck strictly to mSQL and MySQL, it would have been about ~150 pages of content. The rest (about 300 pages) is a "reference manual" for various (PHP/Perl/Java JDBC/C/Python) languages' support for MySQL/mSQL. Again, if you didn't know the concepts already, you would have a hard time learning useful stuff from this book. Still, I have to admit to using the book every so often as a handy "at-my-fingertips" reference book. For that, I am glad that I have it. But I don't think it was worth the price I paid.
Rating:
Summary: A good primer & reference, but assumes some prior knowledge
Review: After reading about half the book, I'm now more aware of what I've already done with other databases and hopefully can better utilize MySQL. If you're looking for a book to hold your hand through the entire process of creating a database application, you'd better look elsewhere. MySQL & mSQL assumes the reader is not a dummy (like some series of books are written toward) and has enough programming background to effectively apply the concepts presented. Having a background in developing web applications in Cold Fusion, much of the concepts presented were not new to me, but sections such as the Database Design and Performance Tuning chapters were helpful in gaining a little deeper insight on how things should be done. Since MySQL uses only a subset of SQL2, I'm glad a significant portion of the book deals with MySQL's implementation of SQL. However, I'm a little disappointed that the section dealing with PHP was miniscule in comparison to the sections dealing with Perl and JDBC. All-in-all, I'd recommend the book only if you have a programming background and are looking to expand your repertoire of database skills.
Rating:
Summary: Satisfied and a very good reference
Review: I have had this book for 3 years now and it is still on my "easy-access bookshelf". I use MySQL and can't comment on the mSQL portion. I can't claim that it is the best book to learn from, but it was adequate for me at the time...the mere fact that I still use this book so frequently is enough for me to recommend anyone to buy it as a MySQL reference book.
Rating: 
Summary: Not Enough Stars!
Review: Do NOT buy any other book on MySQL. You will end up tossing others aside and buying this one. As others have said, chapter 2 gives the absolute best discussion of normalization ever. It is required reading of new staff in my shop. This book is always within arms reach when I am coding. Do yourself a big favor and buy it NOW.
Rating:
Summary: Fair reference to start with, but leaves you wanting more
Review: The books was my first introduction to MySQL ( I never read anything about mSQL out of choice) and I felt it started of well, but as I got further the book lacked depth both in examples and content. The second half is more like a reference manual probably good for someone with prior knowledge. I guess O'relliy could do better having more detailed examples and an online reference code / cd with ready examples from the book.
Rating:
Summary: Best MySQL Tutorial and Intro book ever written!
Review: Simply the best MySQL intro book. If you have no MySQL experience I believe you have no idea where to start from and this book is a perfect tutorial that guide MySQL newbie step by step to more and more complicated aspects of MySQL. Even if almost 1/3 of the book is about programming MySQL using different languages, you will find enough information to get basic MySQL experience, have a clear understanding of all MySQL concepts and be prepared to read (and understand) MySQL reference books ( You will need them anyway :-) ) Even when you finish to read this book
it will serve you as good SQL (mSQL and MySQL dialects) reference. Conclusion: this is your first MySQL book! I think the second will be MySQL Reference Book.
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