Rating: 
Summary: One of the better ones I have seen
Review: I have been writing SQL for a few years, and I have almost every book on TSQL. When I glanced over this book, I thought it was pretty good, but I waited until I saw the reviews on Amazon.com to get a second opinion. As the reviews were mostly negative, I did not buy the book back then.Then some time later and with some spare money in hand, I got to the bookstore and this was the ONLY book on TSQL that I did not already own. So I caved in and bought it. This was a very wise move! The help given to me by this book has made it a more than worthwhile investement. I have over 10 SQL servers and have to maintain and write code for all of them. This books has been extraordinary help. I you know very little of SQL, do not buy this book, get an intro book instead. But if you have "some" experience with SQL, then this is a great book to get deeper into TSQL. I will change the way you write code and make you a better TSQL developer. Which leads me to wonder about the SQL capabilities of the writers of those negative reviews.... hum ;-)
Rating: 
Summary: Not advanced - not written very well - pretty sloppy
Review: Can't believe I actually bought this book. Gotta be one of the worst ones I ever laid down my own money on. Terrible piece of work. Examples don't run. Explanations don't make sense. Nothing very educational or helpful about any of it.
Rating:
Summary: Lots of language problems
Review: This is one of those books where the authors obviously speak English as a second language. Grammatical errors and language misuse abound. I found the text difficult to read through and exceptionally boring and dry. It's no where near engaging. Also, there are a number of errors in the Tsql, so many, in fact, that I'd say the authors also have language problems with Tsql. Do yourself a favor and stay away from this book.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best T-SQl books
Review: Simply, One of the best T-SQL Books I've ever read. lots of good example and explanation. I like those SQL puzzles...
Rating: 
Summary: Good Desktop Reference for Transact-SQL
Review: I was a little surprised when I read some of the negative reviews on this book. It has become the most used book in my library of late and I find it very helpful and easy to use. The code examples are short, clear and to the point. The topics are well indexed and logically grouped, making it very easy to find examples of what I need to know. So many other books in this category are designed for either Database Administration or Developers embedding SQL in applications. This book is aimed at people who code SQL in MS SQL Server. It focuses on how to write the most optimized queries and gives practical tips that make it easier to write and debug SQL. I am somewhere in between a Beginner and an Advanced user. I have been coding simple embedded SQL for 5 years as a VB developer and recently writing more complex stored procedures. This book has been the most practical SQL reference I have found, much more helpful than the online help. It is has not been a "waste of time" or "beginner level at best" for me. I have learned quite a bit about SQL from this book and I thought I was fairly knowledgeable before I read it. Others in my department have also purchased this book and it has become the standard reference many of us use to answer SQL questions. If you are looking for a practical reference to common and advanced questions, you will find this book very useful.
Rating: 
Summary: I found the book to be useful
Review: After reading some of the negative reviews on here, I almost didn't buy this book. I'm a Transact SQL beginner, though, so whether a book with "Advanced" in the title isn't actually advanced doesn't matter to me. I think there's room for beginner books in the market, too. I am a seasoned coder that just started a new job and needed to get up to speed on Transact SQL quickly, so I bought Henderson's Guru's Guide book and this one. I have already reviewed Henderson's book, so now I'll share my experiences with this one. Having read through this book a couple of times now, I can say that I agree with some of the points some of the other readers have made. It's true that there are a lot of coding errors in the sample code. And it's true that the book doesn't always read very well. However, I still found the book to be useful. No, it's not up to par with Henderson's book, but that doesn't make it completely worthless. I'm not sorry I bought it. I don't think you can have too many books on SQL Server, and this one has certainly proved useful to me personally. If you are trying to get your legs under you as far as Transact SQL goes, this is a good place to start.
Rating:
Summary: Not worth buying
Review: I didn't find anything in this book that make it worth purchasing. The writing is terrible, as several others have pointed out, and there's really nothing advanced about the examples. The topics are hit and miss - sometimes they cover essential topics, sometimes they don't. This is one of those books that proves the old adage, "The mere fact that you believe you have something to say doesn't mean it's worth saying." :-)
Rating:
Summary: Very disappointing
Review: I've been thinking that they should have a certification system for computer book authors. It would help keep stuff like this off the market. I guess the authors have a different definition of Advanced than I do. To me, this is, at best, a beginner's book. The things the authors apparently think are advanced are little more than coding tricks that have appeared in lots of other books and magazine articles. If you are looking for something to teach you true T-SQL mastery, you will be disappointed. There's nothing approaching that here. The real problem with this book is the same problem with half the computer books in print: they are written by people not qualified to be authors. I don't care if you have a Phd or if you know Kalen Delaney. Neither qualifies you to write technical books. What qualifies you to write technical books consists of two parts: 1) you must know the subject material at an expert level. Obviously, this isn't the case with either author. 2) You must be able to write well. The is _really_ not the case, trust me. I wish they had a test that people would have to pass to get a book published. In true APress tradition, we have a book that's not worth reading written by two people who had no business writing it in the first place.
Rating:
Summary: Authors need to earn their stripes
Review: After some [people] on the newsgroups recommended this book, I went and bought it. Frankly, I'm disappointed. There are whole topics left completely untouched. Are some pages missing or did you fellows forget to mention handling errors in Transact-SQL? It's kind of important, you know. Also, the book doesn't even begin to approach "Advanced", the laughable Foreword nothwithstanding. I was puzzled that a couple of the guys on the newsgroups would recommend such a shipwreck of a book until it finally hit me. These guys are all buddies! They all know each other. What we have here is a little Mutual Admiration Society where Bob recommends Joe's work and Joe recommend's Bob's work and no one realizes that neither of them have any business recommending anything! I get the sense that these authors spend too much time on the newsgroups and not enough actually using the product. For two guys that spend more time in a newsgroup reader than they do with the product, the prententious tone of the book is really inappropriate. Better start earning your stripes, guys. Technical authors should write from an abundance of experience, and surfing the newsgroups won't get you there.
Rating:
Summary: Get Henderson's book instead
Review: There is just one problem with "Advanced Transact-SQL for SQL Server 2000": it is not "advanced" in the slightest. Not atleast compared to Kenneth W. Henderson's "The Guru's Guide to Transact-SQL". I've been coding in the language for about 3 years now and didn't find a thing in it that I didn't already know. Henderson's book, OTOH, opened whole new worlds to me. Don't buy this book. Buy Henderson's book instead -- really, you'll thank me.
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