Some New Database Books to Consider
My collection of data- and database-related books is quite large, and it grows by several new books every month. During April and May I’ve received several new and interesting books and I thought it might be helpful if I briefly blogged a bit about each of them.
First up, we haveAlpha Males and Data Disasters: The Case for Data Governance by Gwen Thomas (Brass Cannon Press). This easy-to-read book focuses on the human and organizational aspects of data governance. With the growing list of regulations that require better control over our data, the creation of a data governance body is something that every organization will need to embrace. Fortunately, after reading this book you will have a nice blueprint for designing your own data governance organization.
As Thomas so succinctly states in the first sentence of the book – "This book has one big idea: Companies are doomed to data disasters unless managers at all levels add one step to the decision-making process for certain kinds of data-related decisions."
So what the heck does data governance have to do with alpha males? Basically, Thomas uses this to describe the common middle-management style of handling decisions solo without consulting others unless forced to. This pattern of behavior can be very damaging to an organization because the decision the manager made in a vacuum are unlikely to make sense for the entire enterprise. In the book Thomas offers advice you can follow to avoid this syndrome.
Next up we have Physical Database Design by Lightstone, Teorey, and Nadeau (Morgan Kaufmann). This book is co-authored by three database design experts, so it is no surprise that the book has a solid technical foundation. The book fills a gap in the marketplace that has needed to be filled for some time now. Oh, there are a lot of good design books for each individual DBMS and there are some excellent books on logical database design and data modeling. But there has not been a good book that provides a comprehensive treatment of the physical side of database design from a DBMS agnostic perspective. Now there is.
The book offers comprehensive coverage of how to design the physical structures and environment for the most popular database management systems. After reading it, you should possess a better understanding of how the choices you make during physical design affect the performance of your systems. The specific examples, guidelines, and best and worst practices included by the authors are instructive and enlightening, as well as being helpful across the spectrum of popular DBMSs. Examples and code illustrating the major concepts of physical database design are depicted for IBM DB2, Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, and even sometimes for Informix.
Physical Database Design is a well-written and researched book that should prove useful to any DBA or developer looking to improve their skills in creating efficient and effective relational database implementation.
And speaking of database design books for specific DBMSs, another recent addition to my database bookshelves is Pro SQL Server 2005 Database Design and Optimization by Louis Davidson, et al (APress). This book does a nice job of outlining effective strategies for designing proper SQL Server databases. It moves from business requirements gathering to logical data modeling through normalization and then on to physical implementation.
The book also delves into optimization techniques such as proper SQL coding, index creation guidance, and design for concurrency. Over the course of more than 600 pages the authors provide a comprehensive picture of how to implement efficient databases and systems using SQL Server 2005.
Another nice new SQL Server book is Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Unleashed (SAMS). If you are familiar with SAMS Publishing's line of unleashed
The book comes with a CD-ROM that includes 8 bonus chapters, Code samples, scripts, sample databases, and a PDF version of the entire book.
I also recently received a copy of Expert MySQL by Charles A. Bell (APress), and the book lives up to its title. MySQL is a hot topic right now – and you can verify that by browsing the database section at your local book store. There are a lot of titles on MySQL. Unlike many of those books, Expert MySQL goes deeper than just syntax and samples, offering useful information on the internals of MySQL.
Another new book worth mentioning is XQuery by Priscilla Walmsley (O'Reilly). Walmsley was a member of the W3C XML Schema Working Group so she is highly qualified to write this book. And since XML is being added to database management systems, DBA and developers will need to know how to query that data. And they’ll more than likely be using XQuery to do it.
Walmsley’s book offers a concise, yet in-depth tutorial on the XQuery language specification. After digesting these 25 chapters you’ll have the knowledge required to program using XQuery to read your XML data. Whether you're coming from a relational and SQL background or you’re an XML and XSLT coder, this well-written text will help you understand and write queries using XQuery.
And, finally, I don’t just read up on the enterprise DBMS offerings, I’m also interested in the desktop applications. Just last week I got two new books on Microsoft Access 2007. The first, Microsoft Office Access 2007 Forms, Reports, and Queries by Paul McFedries (Que), is for those of you looking to learn everything there is to know about querying and reporting against Microsoft Access databases. The second, Using Microsoft Office Access 2007 by Roger Jennings (Que), is for those looking for an in-depth book on all of the features and functions of Microsoft Access.
Both books are recommended.
That's all for now. And if you like these type of "book report" blogs post a comment and let me know.
© 2007, Mullins Consulting, Inc.
