Rating: 
Summary: VERY WELL WRITTEN
Review: I have been programming since 1966 but am new to sql. I already
had a stack of references on sql that all assumed you knew sql
already.Henderson's book begins with an excellent chapter that lays
the foundation to understand how sql works. The examples are
short and spectacular. Now I am starting to get something out
of all those other books...
Rating: 
Summary: Out of Date
Review: After all the ballyhoo on this book, I went and bought it. Frankly, I'm disappointed. Were there pages missing or did old Ken forget about triggers? With SQL Server 2000 on the street much of what you see here is old hat. Current books cover SQL 2000. This one doesn't. For a guy that's barely heard from in the newsgroups, the self-important style is inappropriate. Go and earn your keep, Ken.
Rating:
Summary: Well worth the Price
Review: If you are serious about squeezing everything out of SQL SERVER then this is THE book to buy. This is one of those rare books I take to work, leave there and refer to often. It somehow shows you the hard stuff when you need it. When I first read the book I kept saying WOW, I didn't know that, or 'That's how you do it'. I'd still pay for the book, if it was 1 chapter long. That's how much I've gotten from it!
Rating: 
Summary: An Excellent SQL Book
Review: This is an excellent SQL book. Lots of substance & not much useless filler. Best of all, it's very readable. Complicated stuff explained clearly. Minor probs: It seems to focus exclusively on Microsoft SQL Server & ignore Sybase. Also, the CD didn't install properly on NT4.
Rating:
Summary: A Must-Have
Review: Anyone who uses Microsoft SQL Server or Sybase Adaptive Server Enterprise (or any of the related products) must have this book on the shelf. It is THE best-written and best-organized computer book I have come across. It picks up where the manual leaves off. Despite its name, this book is useful for someone who has just a little knowledge of T-SQL, as well as advanced users. Chapters 1 and 6 serve the beginner well. The information on performace tuning is great for the more experienced user. Even DBA's will find useful information. I don't know what I would do without this book. It showed me some of the techniques that I use regularly, such as the CASE statement.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Resource
Review: Just got the book and I already love it and have learned a lot. If your looking for lots of coding examples, independant chapters, not a lot of space wasting graphs and screenshots, and a solid T-SQL reference, then this is for you! Its exactly what I was looking for.
This book is easy reading. I think the biggest plus is the hefty amount of coding examples and using code to teach you code. He is very easy to follow and speaks common language - sounds like a normal guy - not a lecturing PHD professor like some other books. Buy it!
Rating:
Summary: An Extraordinarily Useful Book
Review: What I appreciated most about this book was the way the author pushes the reader to go beyond simply "knowing the material." This is a book that will help you understand the "whys" behind the details. Yes, there are plenty of "tips and tricks" here, as you would expect from the title, but there's a lot more than that. This is a perfect "next step" book if you're an intermediate user of SQL looking to develop some real expertise and stand out from your peers. One one level, this book made me more confident and skilled at Transact-SQL, but it also made me feel like I was beginning to approach SQL as a programmer, not simply as a guy who had memorized a bunch of syntax and keywords. And while the info here is specific to Transact-SQL, the thinking skills will carry over to any platform you work on. As a final note, the chapter on NULLs is worth the entire price of the book all by itself.
Rating:
Summary: Recommend highly for developers concerned about speed
Review: This book has been my best resource for fine tuning my transact SQL code and optimizing code for top pereformance. This is a must have for all developers working with large databases that are concerned about speed.
Rating:
Summary: This is good stuff
Review: So many of the books on SQL server seem to be by people who know less than us working DBA's and developers. This is the real stuff. Excellent, and thank you.
Rating:
Summary: The word here is CODE
Review: What this book does is teach you Transact-SQL, then you teach more about Transact-SQL *using* Transact-SQL. In other words, half way into the book you realize that you're now conversing and thinking in Transact-SQL. The author is really subtle in this. He sneaks up on you with it. It reminds me of my French class where they made us converse in French 100% of the time. This guy *teaches* in Transact-SQL. It works like a shorthand for the reams of English it would take to explain the same concepts. Brilliant indeed. My new top drawer computer book.
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