Rating: 
Summary: Best book on SQLXML
Review: What is really great about this book is how it tackles SQLXML wholistically--it does not assume that you already know XML and starts from ground-zero. So there is a chapter on just XML itself--nothing Sql-specific. After that it gets into each of the SQLXML pieces one-by-one--you learn them by example and by writing XML docs and code--the very best way. The book also covers many other Sql bases such as writing stored procs and all that involves--so you get the full picture. I highly recommend you read this book if--like me--you create software for Sql 2000 for a living.
Rating: 
Summary: Not a first choice.
Review: Very outdated and falsely advertised as full xml coverage. xml as most professionals know is a huge topic that covers many technologies. It is a topic for a multitude of books, so anyone that will tell you this volume leaves no xml stone unturned is unfamiliar with the technology.
The writing style is confusing and the examples are of no use in real life. The CD has code that crashes more often than runs making it more of a hassle to load than it's worth. By default it will put it in your program files under a directory that is the full name of the book...which should be GG volume 2. To me and others that is an example of the amateurish code and information in the book. If you are looking to advance your career look elsewhere as this is for the novice query writer only. There are some good old fashioned tricks in here that will bring back memories of comp sci 101 however. They impressed many reviewers so it's obvious most are not IT educated folk.
Not a good book for up to date learning of sql server. Only ends up with some added coverage to book one, still in command line mentality with dangerous code in it's novice nature. It will destroy a production implementation and this alone makes it worth looking elsewhere.
Rating: 
Summary: I thought it was fine
Review: Except outdated and the reviews do not reflect reality.
Hey Drew, when I saw it was the best book you ever red, right then it was clear who we were dealing with, yuk yuk.
But all those helpfuls you got this morning already. Wow, you are something.
And Todd, you are right about the XML coverage. I missed the reference guides on xpath, xquery, the updated w3c formats and the entire guide on xpath, xquery, sqlxml and every other xml related technology needed to write complete working real code. You are very believable the way you say no stone is left unturned. Yes, I have 3 books on SQLXML and they still don't touch on all of it, but yet you somehow see it all right here.
Why does the opinions of a man need put down and all those votes burned in to fool America? That is heartless. Anyone with half a brain that reads through these reviews and knows anything about the subject will of course know, but you are sucking in newbies with lies. Why would you do that?
If Amazon does not remove the may 28 posts and the over 50 helpful votes on each and every good review and not helpful on the 3 star review, I am writing about this book in every public forum I can find. I will not rest until the world knows what a fake operation this is. I have worked my (...) off in this country and can't stand filth such as whoever wrote those and put together the resources to put in a hundred thousand votes this morning.
AMAZON, add it up. They put in over 100,000 votes this morning!!! Please take them off. That is not humanly possible unless done maliciously.
Rating:
Summary: For professional developers
Review: It's funny that no one thought of this before but the book has a message that is unique and new...writing code for Sql Server has to be approached like writing code for any other platform: as an engineering discipline. I had never heard this preached until I red this book, but am now a firm beleiver in it.I have Henderson's other book and this one is a nice follow-up. there is naturaly some overlap between this book and the TSql book but not much. this one gets into coding conventions and version control, extended procs, design patterns and of course SqlXml...things the first book doesn't talk about. I look at this book as the big brother to the first one. It's more serious and more for the professional developer as opposed to being more of a dictionary of solutions to difficult TSql problems. I also really liked the undocumented TSql chapter. This was my favorite chapter in Henderson's last book and this version of it has some new tricks and secrets. Just knowing about these will make you a better DBA because you will have a better understanding of what is happening under the hood.
Rating:
Summary: The only book you need for SQLXML
Review: This is a fantastic book if you are wanting to get up to speed with SQLXML. It leaves absolutely no stone unturned. There are hundreds of pages on every little detail of SQLXML (including on the XML language itself) and hundreds of examples. There is something here for everyone.
If you are a beginner, the book provides a nice intro to XML and HTML that you will surely want to read. If you are a middle-level developer, the book has a very straightforward manner that will help you become an SQLXML guru yourself. If you are an expert this book will show you how to solve hard problems in SQLXML and how to work around common issues SQLXML developers run into. Whatever you're level of expertise the SQLXML section of this book delivers. I would be doing the book a diservice if I left out all the great teaching on stored proc development. The book is unlike any other that I have seen in that it teaches that stored proc development is just like development in other languages. It covers the whole 9 yards of the development life cycle --design, coding, conventions, source code management, testing, deployment, etc. You don't just learn cool coding tricks, you learn how to develop stored procs professionally --something I have not seen in other books.
Rating:
Summary: Truely outdated for microsoft material
Review: Not bad book on querying database tables but is geared toward older systems. XML is the centerpiece of all modern technology so 3 or 4 chapters is not going to cut it unless you only want an intro. I can't speak for the reviewers that in some cases say the XML is complete in this book, but do yourself a favor. Look inside the book and count the pages. A good XML book has got to be a full volume or half at least. There are good SQLXML specific books that would be a better choice. Curlingstone has one that is specific to sqlxml, the entire book. Of course there is nothing of current technology anywhere in sight in this book. No .NET coverage beyond talking about it coming in the future. Well this is an older book and you should care. .NET is now moving at lightspeed and between the framework taking the place of win32 architecture and the lines between SQL, .NET and XML blurring, you can't afford the time and money on this book if you are trying to find current material to boost your career. This is a 3 or 4 year old book and it is not timeless as this technology is changing, esp. in how it is used and how it works inside of .NET. Unfortunately there is nothing here about those topics at all. If you did not know, this book looks like a modern book, but the XML and .NET it advertises is truely minimal. Curlingstone has a full tome on SQLXML you would find very useful for that. Also many .NET if not ALL .NET books on XML programming have heavy SQL coverage you may find more to your liking. Sybex has an awesome book on C# database programming with SQL being the database of choice in the book. MS press has one on programming XML that is awesome as well and covers SQL perfectly. Thearon Willis has programming books covering using VB and SQL that are super for programmers. It is all programming. Teaches how to create and call triggers and access the change/delete tables triggers create in code. Awesome material. This book is ok if you are simply looking to sharpen query writig skills.
Rating: 
Summary: best book on VSS i've seen
Review: I never got the hang of Visual sourcesafe until this book. Thank you for writing a book on this obscure topic. The other stuff in the book is outdated or just fiddle type stuff.
But with this book you can document your query and everything ni VSS. Buy it just for VSS. That's all that' really good in it.
Rating:
Summary: Great sequel to first Guru's Guide
Review: I own both of the Guru's Guide books and use them religiously. This is a great sequel to the first one. Of the topics they share (undocumented TSql, views, etc.) this one augments the first book very well. They compliment each other very well. The first one provides a cookbook of answers to questions that face TSql developers, the second one covers how to write and maintain production-quality TSql and procedures in business. You need both to have the whole story.
Rating:
Summary: The essential guide to building industrial Sql apps
Review: This is the book to read if you want to build industrial Sql apps. Complex real Sql apps require industrial strength stored proc code. This book teaches you how. From basics like version control and naming conventions to advanced things like building extended procedures. I was a complete novice when I first opened this book but now feel like I really now how to get around in Sql. Between the great proc programming chapters and the SqlXML chapters I learned how to build real apps with Sql for the first time.
Rating:
Summary: A best practices guide to stored proc devs
Review: I bought this book because I read the first guru's guide book and it taught me the real power of transact sql. I wondered how this book could measure up to that one or how it could differentiate itself given that at least part of it was about a very similar topic: stored proc development. The book didn't disappoint me a bit and actually exceeded my expectations. I guess its main message is that one must approach transact sql the same way one approaches any programming language. The same engineering concepts, patterns, idioms, and best practices apply. And the language has many of these of its own. The book takes the reader through a good number of them. As far as being differentiated from the first book - they couldn't be more different. The first one is really a catalogue of solutions to hard query problems with a few bits of wisdom thrown in here and there. This one is a developer's guide to writing stored procs, views, triggers, user functions, extended procs, etc. It covers best practices for the stored proc developer: source code management, naming conventions, database design, testing, etc. As such it belongs on the reading list of any one building Sql Server apps.
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