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Summary: For Universities too!
Review: As the title says, the book is "For The Systems Professional". But it has been used successfully in university courses too. My lecture notes are freely available on request.
Rating: 
Summary: One of the best computer books ever.
Review: Excellent print and illustrations. No ambiguous or misguiding explanations. It will broaden your horizons and greatly improve your understanding of Compouter Science. The book stands to it's title, yes, the principles, many topics are discussed in abstract, patternized way. No 'SELECT * FROM CUSTOMER' stuff. Get it. It may be off-topic but it sits right with "C++ Programming Language", "Essential COM", "Programming Perl", "UML Distilled" and "Design Patterns". Cheers.
Rating: 
Summary: An introduction at best. You'll need another book as well.
Review: Having read lots of technical books, I found this one to be the least impressive. I found sloppy and inconsistent use of terms and language which often caused ambiguity in an explanation. The authors wrote as if they were summarizing ideas to close friends who already knew what they were talking about instead of spelling it out for the rest of us. I would look elsewhere for a treatment of this subject.
Rating:
Summary: clear, concise and practical
Review: I have been using this book in the advanced undegraduate class series on Transaction Processing. Since this book, as emphasised in the preface has eveolved from the class material, it is exemplerary suited for that purpose. But not only in academia, this book has enought coverage to provide a first reference point in such topics as TP monitors, queue design, locking solutions, HA and recovery in databases, 2PC. Additionally, VERY usefull (if somewhat dated) industry survey of Transaction Monitors (this will really benefit to the other edition perhaps including app servers and EJBs). Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Useful introduction for software testers
Review: I'm reviewing books with the question, "What will be worthwhile for people who are testing web-based applications?" This is a solid and useful introduction to the person who is trying to figure out how a system is supposed to work together, where it might be broken, and therefore, what test cases might be interesting.This is not to say that the book is written with a testing focus. It's just a clear, readable, approachable introduction to transaction processing.
Rating:
Summary: Useful introduction for software testers
Review: I'm reviewing books with the question, "What will be worthwhile for people who are testing web-based applications?" This is a solid and useful introduction to the person who is trying to figure out how a system is supposed to work together, where it might be broken, and therefore, what test cases might be interesting. This is not to say that the book is written with a testing focus. It's just a clear, readable, approachable introduction to transaction processing.
Rating: 
Summary: Overall good, but a little dry
Review: If you're looking for a smaller & cheaper tome than Gray & Reuter's TP bible, look no further. This book explains stuff in good detail... just for some reason I couldn't stop falling asleep while reading it! :) If you want to start designing TP monitors or tweaking them, read Gray/Reuter.
Rating:
Summary: Much needed in this day and age
Review: Just because you've had a PC in your bedroom since you were 8 and can think in x86 assembler doesn't mean you have a clue about the really big systems. Transaction processing is what characterizes true enterprise environments, and if you think that CICS is just some dumb old dinosaur mainframe technology, WAKE UP and read this book (especially if you are going anywhere near banking, retail, big e-commerce, or airlines).
Rating:
Summary: Much needed in this day and age
Review: Just because you've had a PC in your bedroom since you were 8 and can think in x86 assembler doesn't mean you have a clue about the really big systems. Transaction processing is what characterizes true enterprise environments, and if you think that CICS is just some dumb old dinosaur mainframe technology, WAKE UP and read this book (especially if you are going anywhere near banking, retail, big e-commerce, or airlines).
Rating:
Summary: A warning (not a review)
Review: People like Blaha and Box should be disqualified from writing reviews here, because of potential conflict of interest. That is, unless their reviews are negative (how likely is that <g>?) They belong to the same 'gang' of tech. writers and therefore are to be distrusted as a matter of policy. These guys will praise one another no matter what--it's better ot look for a common man's feedback.
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