Rating: 
Summary: Excellent way to learn about DB Design!
Review: This is a great way to learn about, and finally understand relational database design, SQL programming, and using VB and VBA. This book doesn't spend a lot of time with boring pretentious crap as other books do. It gets to the point, is easy-to-read, and speaks to my level. One hint: If I see that library (biblio.mdb) example in another book, I'm going to die. Please, let's build our own, new database instead, that's the best way to learn!
Rating: 
Summary: Good book on relational database theory
Review: This is an excellent book if you want to learn database theory and you use Access. This is not a good book if you are already familiar with database theory and you are interested in learning Access programming. This book is VERY heavy on theory and VERY light on practical examples. A better title would be Database Design and Programming, with 'Examples in Access' in small letters underneath.
Rating: 
Summary: disappointing
Review: True to its title, this book has an excellent section on database design, particularly as it pertains to Microsoft Access. However, I found it particularly frustrating when none of the code examples in the book worked with my databases. When I read Balter's "Mastering Microsoft Access 2000 Develoment", also available at Amazon, I found out why. DAO has been replaced by ADO. This book covers DAO first, and mentions only later. I spent five days trying to get DAO to work and failed. I am so glad I had my other Access book to steer me straight.The great introduction to relational databases is useful, but you could glean the same information from Hernandez's "Database Design for Mere Mortals" and it would apply to all DBMSes. I hate to give an O'Reilly book a bad review, but this one didn't meet my expectations. It is advertised to apply to Access versions 97-2002, but I don't think it is as up-to-date as some of the other books on the market.
Rating:
Summary: disappointing
Review: True to its title, this book has an excellent section on database design, particularly as it pertains to Microsoft Access. However, I found it particularly frustrating when none of the code examples in the book worked with my databases. When I read Balter's "Mastering Microsoft Access 2000 Develoment", also available at Amazon, I found out why. DAO has been replaced by ADO. This book covers DAO first, and mentions only later. I spent five days trying to get DAO to work and failed. I am so glad I had my other Access book to steer me straight. The great introduction to relational databases is useful, but you could glean the same information from Hernandez's "Database Design for Mere Mortals" and it would apply to all DBMSes. I hate to give an O'Reilly book a bad review, but this one didn't meet my expectations. It is advertised to apply to Access versions 97-2002, but I don't think it is as up-to-date as some of the other books on the market.
Rating:
Summary: Access from the ground up...
Review: When I first came to read the 2nd edition of this book, I was already at an advantage over the casual reader as I'd attended lectures on database theory while studying for my degree in Computer Science. The reason I went out and bought Access Database Design and Programming was to learn how to apply what I knew in the real world, as I'd little practical experience with using or designing a real relational database. I choose a book on Access programming mainly because I'm an ASP developer and couldn't afford to run the more expensive Microsoft SQL Server just for developing a few site creation helper applications. The first few chapters were very familiar to me, it was simply going through the same topics we learnt at the University, only presented in a more useable format. It goes through the basics of database design, using a consistent example throughout the book, and covers topics such as identifying entities and their relationships, which is useful for anyone wanting to redesign an old database. After reading the first few chapters I was able to build my own database, complete with relations, that could not be optimised further by the use of the optimisation wizard. I'm not sure if this was due in part to my prior knowledge or the helpful step by step illustrations, but it was nice to be able to use the book so quickly. No doubt you've probably read about the problems of using an Access database in the web environment. However, a lot of the knowledge found in the earlier part of the book can be useful to anyone designing a relation database, regardless of their choice of software. Another thing to remember is that Access is more widely available than a lot of other database software programs. Access Database Design and Programming is probably more suited to those wanting to use Access away from a web environment, as the latter sections concentrate on the use of the Visual Basic Editor that is built in to program. Having said that, it makes a nice introduction to anyone new to designing or programming a database.
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