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Rating: 
Summary: An OK guide for beginners
Review: Celko has penned on OK guide for beginners. Unfortunately he uses an arcane "syntax" format to introduce the SQL syntax before using the much easier to understand examples in the actual language. Also, the book is supposed to cover SQL-92, but for complicated queries all of the examples use the older SQL-89 syntax. There are an unfortunate number of typos. I used the book as part of a class, which helped clarify what otherwise would have been some very confusing examples. Perhaps these have been corrected in later printings. Overall, it was a readable and understandable introduction to SQL. I haven't read any other introductory texts, so I can't compare.
Rating:
Summary: Good for beginner, useless for advanced
Review: I had a little SQL background before getting this book (background = seeing other SQL code and trying to figure out what it was doing).I bought this book hoping to really learn SQL, but didn't gather too much more from it. Now I have learned SQL more indepth, but still need a good reference book to look up typical "tricks" or common functions. This book is now useless. On the cover it says "exploit your database's full capacity"...which is entirely misleading because most of the exploits are not covered at all in this book. Great for beginner to get to intermediate stage of typical SELECT, INSERT, etc...but if you want to do more than typical, this book is NOT for you.
Rating: 
Summary: Very Disappointed -- Not for Beginners
Review: I had to buy this book for an online class I'm taking. The teacher probably wanted it because of the [very old] software [on floppys] to use with the class. The book itself is basically on the border of terrible for someone like me who is new to SQL (even though I am a senior CS student). Uses a lots of terminology that he doesn't explain. Not very good examples. Cannot skip between chapters without confusion. Overall, this is the worst computer book that I have purchased. I'm looking for a new one to supliment my learning for the class.
Rating: 
Summary: Beginners Beware
Review: I ordered this book, despite the word "INSTANT" in its title (how "Instant" can SQL get?) only because it was Celko's latest book. This book is below Celko's usual caliber (I consider Joe Celko as one of the leading authorities on SQL and especially writing about SQL). It is intended for the begining/not-so-begining SQL programmer. The intermediate programmer would be happier and more satisfied with Celko's: SQL for Smarties. It is here where you can find the Joe Celko we used to know and admire who wrote for DBMS magazine! I only wish that Celko had written SQL books for begginers back when my generation of programmers were begining to learn the language.
Rating: 
Summary: Still the best
Review: Ok, it's 10 years since this book was written and it is still the one I use as my SQL reference.
One note - I'm a programmer, not a DBA. So my SQL needs are pretty simple. But if you want a basic reference that covers all of the basics clearly - this is the book.
Rating: 
Summary: A Good Start
Review: Probably not the best book ever written for SQL, let alone for beginners. However, it is the one I used to learn SQL. It covers the basics in a fairly concise manner, enough so to be able to move on to a more advanced book. I read it cover-to-cover, and didn't agonize over the side-tracking or standards discussions. What I wanted was the details on the syntax of the language and an understanding of what the statements do, and that is what was provided along with some basic examples. By the end of the book, I was able to use SQL at a novice level. I'm not sure I'd use this book to teach a class on beginning SQL, but as a quick and dirty read to get a first taste of the language, it fits. P-)
Rating:
Summary: Very Disappointed -- Not for Beginners
Review: The book starts with installation notes telling reader that instead of using password such and such and id such, as it is described in the software's help, you rathre have to use password "sql" and password "dba". I tried to enter "sql" and "dba" into the password-asking dialog box, and it did not work. Then I realized that it is password "sql" and USERID "dba", and not only it is a misprint, they are listed in a reverse order: first you enter "dba", and second - "sql". That's on the very first page. The page 5 states, that supplied version of Watcom SQL engine will not allow to execute commands CREATE, ALTER, DROP, GRANT or REVOKE. That makes impossible to practice anything you read up to the chapter 5. However, in chapter 6 on p. 162 author offers you to execute command ALTER TABLE, and if you already forgot about page 5, that's a lot of frustration. At this time it helps to return to page 8: "The code in this book has been extensively tested ... so if you encounter an error message ... please thoroughly check that you've typed the code in correctly ... if you don't type in all of the examples, then you may encounter problems later with certain structures or features which haven't been created".
Rating:
Summary: Very good SQL intro for programmers
Review: The publisher of this book calls its line of books "Programmer to Programmer." This book is a good introduction to SQL, written for programmers. There is a strong emphasis on theory: of databases, of SQL, and of how to use SQL. Theory is presented before syntax, which was very helpful for me. The book's emphasis on theory, and the fact that it was written for programmers, are what make this book unique. At times the flow of topics is a little confusing, and the book often reads like it was proofread by someone not well-versed in American English. However, the overall presentation of SQL and database concepts far outweighs the book's sometimes mediocre readability. I would not recommend this book to the non-programmer, but I highly recommend it to the intelligent programmer who wants to understand SQL and be a high-quality database programmer.
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