Rating: 
Summary: Yah, just get it
Review: Ok, I would give it 4 1/2 if I could, but can't so I will round down. If you are learning SQL or are going to in a class room, this is a GREAT way to start, even before you start taking lessons. this book will break up learning into "10 minute" lessons, which the first few can be done thourghly in 5. (Possibly because I had already learned it but oh well). Anyway, if you go through every lesson seriously, you will walk away with a GOOD knowledge of SQL, take it from someone who uses SQL in the field.
Rating:
Summary: A great book if you can get past a few foo-pahs.
Review: If you are a beginner, and have a database to practice SQL on, then this book is for you. If you have never created a database, you will need to in order to use this book. Trouble is, the book tells you how to create the database in Appendix A, and Appendix A is not very thorough. If you succeed in blindly creating your database, the book is excellent thereafter.Some of the coding does not follow current ANSI standards, but it works. I was an absolute raw beginner when I picked up this book. It served me well. Had I tried the companion "21 day" book by SAMS first, I would have quit trying before I learned SQL. Thankfully, I read this book first.
Rating:
Summary: Great introduction to SQL
Review: This book is a great introduction to SQL, and will give you a good foundation on which to continue to more complicated SQL. You may find the information in this book is all you'll ever need. It's strengths are the short, to-the-point chapters. They are easy to read and understand. The range of topics covered is also quite wide. This book got me up to speed very quickly with SQL, and is much easier to digest than the SQL chapters in my university database textbook. This book does confine itself to SQL and doesn't explain how to design a relational database.
Rating: 
Summary: The question is, does it do what it says it does?
Review: The answer is yes. The very first page tells you what the book is good for and what to expect from it, and I quote...
"This book if for you if
*You are new to SQL
*You want to quickly learn how to get the most out of SQL
*You want to learn how to use SQL in your own application development
*You want to be productive quickly and easily in SQL without having to call someone for help" It does not say "if you want to be a SQL master" or "If you want to know everything about SQL from A - Z." Give the man his credit, he did what he set out to do.
Rating:
Summary: Useful and accessible with an irritating flaw
Review: This is a handy, inexpensive memory-jogger for those of us who can't seem to recall everything we need to know about using SQL. The format is more accessible than the small type and monotonous layout of the otherwise excellent O'Reilly books. I have two suggestions for a third edition. I wish the author had explained how to use INSERT with composite datatypes. And by the third edition, I hope the editors rethink the idea that DBMS' forms the plural of DBMS. It's jarring to find a systematic error in a reference book.
Rating: 
Summary: well written, but not all that useful by itself
Review: This book is a good intro into what SQL can do and how it's used today, but it's important to realize that it's really just an intro. Forta covers pretty much all the main topics, but he really only gives a brief synopsis of each one followed by one or maybe two examples. So if you want to learn SQL, this book alone is almost pointless to buy. It's just far too surface level. However, if you use this book to get acquainted with what SQL can do and then base further purchases off what you've learned in it, you'll probably do quite well. This book is very easy to read, pretty comprehensive (though not very deep), and certainly worth the "money" you'll pay for it. However, you'll definitely need to buy other books. I recommend SQL Queries for Mere Mortals by Hernandez. While that book really only covers query related issues (joins, unions, inner queries, etc.), it covers the topics pretty deeply and gives lots of good examples. I'm giving this book 3 stars because it delivers what it claims but by itself is just not all that useful.
Rating:
Summary: Not too bad
Review: I liked this book, however I think that the title is a bit misleading... It does take longer than ten minutes to get this baby cracked. Cheers Graham F French ...
Rating:
Summary: The best book for beginners
Review: I bought this book a couple of years ago when I was cramming for a job interview (I didn't get the job; no reflection on the book). This is absolutely the best introduction to SQL (the language) I have ever read.
Rating:
Summary: Very good to get you started and teach you the basics
Review: No need for a long review as I agree with the others. I'm a project manager and learning SQL because I need it for some development work I'm completing. Spend a weekend reading this book and you'll be productive with SQL. It won't teach or give you examples of complex queries, but it will get you started. And it's proved useful as a reference several times already. Some of the best money I've spent...
Rating:
Summary: As simple as it sounds
Review: This is a thin reference book, actually. The name is somewhat misleading in that there are no exercises generally associated with "Teach yourself X in Y time" type books. Although I don't work extensively with databases, it's a good reference book to recall how to structure queries in a manner that's simple and straightforward.
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