Recently I picked up a copy of Murach's SQL Server 2005 For Developers, and while I haven’t had a chance to really read it through cover to cover, I have read the first few chapters and skimmed the rest. It’s a meaty book, and is actually not a first edition as the name might imply but is a third revision book (with a new title) — meaning that there are no glaring holes in it that first-time efforts sometimes have.

Ok, so it’s a book on SQL Server 2005, that’s obvious. But why is it interesting compared to so many other such books? The main reason is that it is very approachable – there is not a lot of dense text, just simple explanations of how things work. This makes it a fairly quick read. The other feature this book has which separates it from the pack, which I LOVE is Murach’s standard layout pattern with explanation on the left page and code samples and figures on the right page. This is an extremely easy to use format for technical how-to manuals, because the code and the explanation are always together, with no page-flipping required.

If you have the book, or are considering buying it, feel free to post your questions and feedback below.

[categories: reviews]

Tags: reviews