This is overall excellent book for the student or individual new to databases in general to learn how to use SQL Server 2008. It begins with installation and start up instructions. It goes into SQL at a rudimentary - This is a SELECT statement - level and progresses from there to more complex operations including such things as views, JOINs, subqueries and so on. It's written at a quite basic level that the beginner should have no trouble.



I find that I have two problems with the book.



First, as you would expect the book has a sample database that is used to illustrate the various statements. But it doesn't appear that the sample database is available in machine readable form. Appendix 2 has a script to enable you to put in the database, but that requires that you type in 14 pages of stuff. Certainly they could find a website somewhere at either the publisher or their university to put it on line or they could include a CD with the book.



Second, it's hard to know where to stop when you are doing an introductory book. But I feel that another chapter to cover more advanced SQL programming, such as the IF/THEN statement, looping, variables, PRINT, and the other things that make T_SQL into a real language should be included. Perhaps the authors don't consider these to be essential and should wait for another book.