SQL Cookbook (Cookbooks (O'Reilly)) (ISBN 0596009763)

Useful fast reference:
This book is great for those times when you say "there must be an easier way to do this". It's concise, readable, and easy to find your way around. I almost never have time to plough through a two-inch thick book to learn a single technology in agonizing detail. More usually I have an immediate problem needing an immediate fix. And this book fills that need. Furthermore since it covers Oracle, Sybase and Sql Server and addresses both similarities and differences between them it's good for those of us who have to bounce between different DBMSs on a daily basis. Buy this book. You will not regret it.

SQL Tookbox Must-Have:
The thing I like about the O'Reilly 'Cookbook' series is that you may not have to use them for months, but when you need them they are there with the answers. And oftentimes finding the "one answer" that has been eluding you for hours or even days is worth the price of the book. This book falls into that category. What's really nice is that the author provides solutions for 5(!) different databases. And he does a good job explaining the solutions, making it easy to extrapolate them to solve similar queries.

Helped Me (a SQL Newbie) Deliver Cmplex SQL Reports:
I was tasked with deliverying 6 key-performance-indicator (KPI) using SQL and Crystal Reports and an Oracle database. And for three disparate areas in the world (USA, Singapore, and The Netherlands). Sure, I could write a 'SELECT' statement or perform and 'UPDATE'. But, I did not know how to approach SQL as being a 'complete' solution for record selection. The Crystal Reports portion was not too much trouble. I was using the PL/SQL environment for creating the SQL. Oracle 10g. Mr. Molinaro's book was instrumental in having me develop what turned out to be some rather complex SQL. It took awhile to get to use SQL's window functions. But, the author's presentation/explanation made them more than approachable---and quite useful. I liked the explanations that covered the multiple vendors' database engines. I will make no pretense of having reached SQL knowledge 'nirvana'--However, there was more than one time where I was out of ideas on how to get/count certain data----The SQL Cookbook did its job by showinge 'yet another way' to approach a pressing problem with a solution. And one can gain a deep understanding of how SQL works. Always a plus for anyone that is new to an environment. If there was something like a SQL University, this book seems to be text that would work very well for giving students more than enough 'footing' to face the 'real' world. It did for me. I am more than pleased to have this book as part of my SQL 'library.'

Good book, but shipped falling apart:
Content is excellent, with good examples. I was able to solve a prloblem the very first time I used it. The issue I have is more with Amazon in that I ordered this book in a shipment of 4 others, so it was over a month before I cracked this one open. To my dismay, the binding is not glued on and the book is falling apart. Amazon customer service has not even responded to my three emails asking for resolution.

A great book!:
I am a certified DB2 / Oracle DBA and a programmer. Even though, I can get through some of chapters very fast, I certainly have enjoyed reading it so far. One thing I like the most is to see how a problem is solved in many different databases including DB2, Oracle, MS-SQL, MySQL, and PostSQL!