» Head First SQL: Your Brain on SQL -- A Learner's Guide (Head First)

Head First SQL: Your Brain on SQL -- A Learner's Guide (Head First) Reviews

Customer Rating:
Summary: Avoid
Comment: This could have been a great book. This book is what happens when marketing people are included in design and production. This book contains a lot of useful information, but to sit through all the to-do-task and poorly crafted examples is take away from the book's quality while adding little.

I hope they do another edition, using useful as opposed to cute as a guidline.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Books for Mild "ADHD" Folks
Comment: Packed with needed knowledge in humorous manner! It is way easier to read than any SQL I have ever encountered... wonderful job done. I will definitely look at the books in the series first before I buy computer books of other technologies from now on.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Average Introduction to SQL ... Subpar for Technical Readers
Comment: Before purchasing this book, I read the reviews and was instantly hooked on the concept of a technical book that would use humor, imagery and other off-beat approaches as teaching tools. Unfortunately, after reading the entire book I feel that these techniques were way over utilized. The figures are very busy because the author feels you will remember words if they are attached to an image. In addition there is very little information conveyed on each page. I found myself thinking "why doesn't the author just get to the point already instead of making me flip through 10 pages?" The book probably could have been condensed down to a half or quarter of its size. The "exercises" are also quite uninspired. I didn't learn anything more from them than I would reading an intro to SQL webpage.

Anyone who has a technical background such as engineering or computer science will probably feel the same as I do. However, for those who have weak or moderate computer language skills may find the book a breath of fresh air as compared to dry, boring long-winded textbooks. I would strongly recommend reading through the first chapter if at all possible to determine if the teaching style is a good fit for you. Do a search on the net as the first chapter is freely available. I learned this after I bought the book!

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Expected more content for length
Comment: This book is an excellent book for beginners to SQL that have a tough time using books to technology. The book is a very long read if you are already comfortable basic concepts like joins. However, it does have good chapters on table and database design. For the length of the book, I expected more advanced topics like stored procs.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Unorthodox & Effective Training Method
Comment: At first I was a little thrown off by all the images and quips (I guess I'm used to boring, dry guides). After a while I was actually drawn into the book and how it guided me through learning SQL. I must admit that I had a somewhat rudimentary understanding of SQL but after completing the book my queries a sharper & more complex.

I do want to put it out there; this isn't really a reference book, it's primary focus is to teach you the fundamentals of SQL, not really the fancier functions or tricks that you can use in SQL.

There was only one short coming to the book; some of the samples did not contain answers. I know it's petty, but there were times I would've liked to have known the answers.

I would confidently recommend this book to anyone looking to learn SQL.

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