Databases Books

I enjoyed the book. I loved it all. enlighning. It is inspirational. I enjoyed reading and growing to a new understanding. I enjoyed every part of the book from cover to cover. I think people should read this book to find the inner peace in their lives

Robert Elias Najemy has authored books on love, happiness, philosophy, wisdom, and spirituality. This book on meditation includes elements of all of these. It embraces yoga and emphasizes what we need to do for our spiritual growth. The author believes wholeheartedly in the practice of meditation. It has changed his life. He offers wisdom for the beginner and the advanced meditator. While teaching you how to meditate, the book transcends basic instruction and reaches for something higher. I highly recommend this book.

Wow! What a great book to find the inner you. Everyone should read this book. If you want to feel better and live longer,then you need this book to show you the way. Robert Elias Najemy has really done an exceptional job of helping you find true peace of mind.

I have read all the major DW books for sql server. All of them fall short in practicality. This book is deceivingly thin (500 some pages), but it covers all the practical side of building a data warehouse using SQL server 2005. The author's experience shows through his handling of many of the practical issues encountered in implementing data warehouse. This book has excellent coverage on ETL process, oftentimes list several alternatives that suited people from different background.

This is a great book for folks who are hands-on and are not just looking for theoretical knowledge. Obviously this book was written by a doer who had many years of actual field experience. The book is full of extremely useful examples that can be followed step by step. It's also written in a way such that even data warehouse beginners wouldn't have difficulties following. The book covers all the basic premises of data warehousing as we know it today. There are some great topics talking about SOA, MDM and data warehouse integration.

I would definitely recommend the book to anyone looking to gain knowledge on data warehousing and SQL server data warehousing in particular.

This book is a must read for anyone embarking on a Data Warehouse project or who wants to learn more about a particular aspect of Data Warehousing. The book guides the reader through the principles underpinning Data Warehousing, with easy to understand definitions. It gives detailed insight into the design, build & testing phases essential to any successful Data Warehousing project. It even covers reporting; including using the Data Warehouse for Business Intelligence and Customer Relationship Management. Throughout the book the author describes potential problems and gives techniques on how to overcome them.
There are tons of practical examples from an author who has a wealth of technical experience in this field.

This book is highly recommended.

This book contains everything that I needed to extend my existing Crystal Reports 9 development knowledge into the Oracle DBMS realm. As an experienced CR developer, but one without any previous experience with Oracle as the back-end, this reference provided the necessary overview of the Oracle system along with sufficient supporting detail - to allow me to quickly acquire the skills to competently utilize the Oracle system in general, and some of its more advanced features on particular: Stored Procedures as datasources, REF Cursors, the MINUS Set Operation, Materialized Views ...

Having performed several searches of the Crystal Decisions knowledge base for detailed guidance in using Oracle Stored Procedures (and Packages) as a datasource and coming up short of the desired comfort level - in terms of the breadth and depth of coverage, this reference proved invaluable in my last CR consulting engagement. As an added bonus, Annette Harper responded personally to my email requests for clarification in areas that a more sober reading (one performed outside the deadline pressures of an existing consulting engagement) would have allowed.

In short, and speaking from the perspective of an experienced CR developer with decent DBMS skills in general, this book made it possible to comfortably and competently transition to using Oracle as the back-end data store.

This book by Annette Harper is one of its kind in the market.It explains the various ODBC drivers by a comparitive study which gives us a very good idea as to which driver we should use.
The book is very helpful for people who are writing Crystal Reports against Oracle Database.

Crystal Reports 9 on Oracle is an excellent book written by Annette Harper. Every report writer will benefit from the in depth coverage of how to write effective reports by best utilize Oracle 9i database features from new Oracle 9i analytical SQL functions, PL/SQL, materialized views, external tables, flashback queries, etc. to Oracle optimization techniques. The book's expert insight into Crystal Reports 9 optimization tips, Data Dictionary report and Crystal Reports 9 repository will empower Crystal Reports writer to fully utilize Crystal Reports 9 and create faster, better reports.

The book provides a solid framework for data preparation activities that is rarely found in other data mining books. Each chapter starts with an intro to the theoretical foundation required to complete a specific data preparation task. Then it moves to its practical application providing relevant examples, and the SAS macros required to do the work.

Having read quite a few books on the subject of data preparation, this book is quite unique in its focus on practical applications. Not only it provides the SAS code required to complete the key data preparation activities, but it also gives practical tips and information that is hard to come across unless you are a seasoned data miner.

The treatment of topics such as missing values, sampling, data transformations, and variable reduction is simply excellent. The book also pays attention to the scoring phase and the requirements for the scoring dataset. This is key for any production data mining application and will help in process automation planning in any SAS environment.

The accompanying CD includes all the SAS macros and makes it easy to start automating data preparation activities in a snap. If you are using SAS for data preparation, this book will save you significant time in the costly data preparation phase. Even for non-SAS users the process and concepts presented in this book may be worth looking at.

It is well known that the majority of time spent doing data mining is in the data preparation. With this book, Dr. Refaat has given analysts the tools they need to perform the often laborious task of data preparation. If you are familiar with the Numerical Recipes series of books (and if you aren't, you should be), you will recognize a similar theme. The author has:
* itemized all the elements the data miner should be aware of when they are doing data preparation,
* presented enough technical description for the reader to understand why they would be performing that particular task,
* provided all the SAS code that can be used to actually perform the data preparation step

This book is what the practicing data miner needs.

Here's a brief on the table of contents:

1. Introduction
* setting the context of data mining

2. Tasks and Data Flow
* describes what data mining can do and where data preparation fits in

3. Review of Data Mining Modeling Techniques
* an overview of data mining techniques

4. SAS Macros: A Quick Start
* just in case you haven't worked with SAS macros

5. Data Acquisition and Integration
* where you get your data from and how it's pulled together

6. Integrity Checks
* how to make sure the data is correct and even what "correct" means

7. Exploratory Data Analysis
* get to know your data

8. Sampling and Partition
* dealing with large data sets as well as getting ready to validate the models you build

9. Data Transformations
* rarely is your source data in the form most effective for modeling - this chapter describes what can be done to produce the most effective models

10. Binning and Reduction of Cardinality
* make your variables less complex and often times, more presentable and understandable

11. Treatment of Missing Values
* you will have missing values in your data - here are several approaches for dealing with them

12. Predictive Power and Variable Reduction I
* introduces the concept of identifying usefulness of input variables and reducing the required number of variables

13. Analysis of Nominal and Ordinal Variables
* how to evaluate relationships with discrete variables

14. Analysis of Continuous Variables
* how to evaluate relationships with continuous variables

15. Principal Component Analysis
* how to use PCA for variable reduction during data preparation

16. Factor Analysis
* how to use Factor Analysis for variable reduction during data preparation

17. Predictive Power and Variable Reduction II
* defines methods of simplifying and reducing input variables with respect to the target variable

18. Putting It All Together
* a case study showing the application of all these techniques for data preparation in a realistic example

Appendix. Listing of SAS Macros
* complete listing of all the SAS code referenced in the book - also included on the CD

I have been working in data mining and with SAS for the last 10 years. This is the best book without doubt. It is consice, to the point, not a lot of fluf and useless theory. It teaches you how to actually do it! The book took me step by step through the process of data preparation using SAS and let me write fantastic macros. All the macros are included in the CD and are ready to run. I strongly recommend this book to anyone who is using SAS to work the data either for reporting or for modeling. I attended many training courses on data mining, and even data preparation, but nothing is like this book. It reveals all the secrets. For example, how to bin variables using Gini, how to select the best modeling variables using Entropy, Ginin, Chi2, how to reduce the variables using principal component analysis, treatment of missing values occupies and huge chapter that in my opinion has no competitors, mapping categorical variables into dummy variables, reduction of cardinality using Gini (best grouping). All these things until now were the secrets of the 'gurus', not any more thanks to Dr. Refaat and his book! For example, I used to use a decision tree software to select the best variables, then use logistic regression to build the models. Not any more. With the SAS programs in the book, I can now select the best variables and build the model within one SAs script.... I only wish if the author would also write a similar book on modeling... This book is a life saver ...

This book is really very good. If you have big experience with DW/BI projects, or even you are a beginner, it shows you all steps to create a sucessuful project.

The first edition, while very valuable and still relevant was getting long in the tooth - it was published 10 years ago. This book remains pragmatic and useful for just about every role assoiciated with the data warehouse and business intelligence. My favorite chapter is on Collecting the Requirements but you will find sections that will make a difference in your DW/BI project implementation and sustainance.

Another awesome book by the Kimball Group. This 2nd edition is a great improvement over the original with lots of new material and new spins on old material.

This is a must read for anybody claiming to be a DW/BI Professional.

This book is simply great.... One can not believe that a highly complex and challenging arena of datawarehousing can be explained and understood in such a simple manner. It is amazing to see Amitesh unleashing the power of his thoughts and experiences to unveil this subject which has been alluding even big businesses for quite some time. This book empowers managers to ignite their imagination. The book helps the business to utilise tremendous potential which lay hidden in its own data base. I congratulate Amitesh Sinha for his excellent work.

The book is very useful book and is suited for all catagories of users - novices to experts. It not only covers the fundamentals & basic concepts of data warehousing but also deals with the subject in adequate depth. It helps one understand manipulation of data which provides your company with the information it needs in a timely manner and in an appropriate desired form. The author has done full justice to the profound subject that Data Warehousing is. It is a must read for project managers & developers who wish to start a new Data Warehouse application or re-inforce an existing one.

Have read this book and found it to be very interesting. It covers everything that is required to know Data Warehousing and its principles.
Any project manager or developer in the Data Warehousing field would find this book very useful to start a new data warehouse or reinforce an existing data warehouse.

IDEF1X is by far the most used DB modeling language today. Books and papers, however, rarely approach it. Bruce's book is a fine piece of work. Excellent on the details of modeling - for instance, his discussion on the adoption of surrogate (artificial) keys is enlightening. Even the less technical stuff is excellent (the text on the ANSI-SPARC architecture is the best I ever read). Great book for someone who wants to develop modeling expertise.

This book is the best-written database design book I have come across. It should be part of every database designer and application developer's library.

This book focuses on information models using the IDEF1X information modeling technique. This text presents a very practical approach for modeling data and relational database design. Although this isn't a database administration book, DBA's would benefit from understanding how the databases they support are designed. This is a book for the masses.

Whether or not you support or practice IDEF 1X as your data modelling religion (after all, it WAS developed for the military), Tom Bruce's 1991 edition can increase the effectiveness of your data modelling by giving you the opportunity to examine your beliefs and standards.

This text covers topics from introductory information modelling concepts , normalization, and reverse engineering, to more advanced data modelling issues. Mr. Bruce's text also includes chapters on conducting modelling sessions, John Zachman's Framework, setting up Data Administration functions within your organization, CASE tools and the IBM Repository (this section is obsolete, of course), a case study, and review exercises with answers.

Best suited for those who have participated in IRM activities and wish to build on that experience. Seasoned IRM practictioners will probably skip the introductory material and head right to the sections on abstractions, resolution of typical data modelling issues, and other advanced topics. Even though "Design" is used in the title, this text is weak on database design topics.

This text is a good one to have on hand when you're looking for justification of following a specific data modelling approach or technique.

I just started administering Exchange and i needed a book that would help me prepare for the worst. This book right from the start showed how to Recover Exchange the right way. I use to worry everyday that the Exchange Server would go down, now i have no fears...

The book was referred to me by a friend who had taken the course that the book is based on. I'm not very good at sitting in a classroom, so I decided to take the plunge and find out what I was missing. The labs gradually take you through all of the scenarios we had to go through when our server crashed. You use LoadSim to load mail and build the logs, which is quite interesting and works well as a learning tool. It takes about 30-40 hours to complete (It took me 31) and I think it's time well spent. If you haven't worked with Exchange in the past, it might be hard to follow. However, if you work with Exchange on a day-to-day basis then this book is for you. After finishing all of the labs, I can say the book gave me a complete picture as to the best recovery methods to use for each type of database failure. I just wish I had found it and done the labs before my server took a dump. It would have saved me a big headache and 7 hours of downtime. I highly recommend the book for people who manage exchange and need to reduce their downtime.

The book is definitely setup as a training manual for the working Admin. It's one lab after another going through each type of recovery in detail. It takes a while to do all of the labs and you'll need to know more than just the basics to get through them. You can tell the author wrote it with this in mind. If your job is to manage exchange and you really want to know the ins and outs of exchange databases, then this is a great training course that you can do on your own.

What an asset to the Internet enabled Data Warehouse! As a consultant in the field, someone offering a practical solution to the Data Warehousing environment provided valuable insight that I can offer my clients. With Internet applications becoming more abundant and the volume of clickstream data reaching terabyte sizes, it is wonderful that the author offered a solution of distributing pieces of the data warehouse across different nodes. The authors' step-by-step process, that includes a valuable discussion on security, will assist in multiple environments but especially in the e-commerce arena.

R. A. Moellers approach in this book is extremely pactical. The author give usable examples on how to build a distributed data warehouse that could cross political boundardies. This is valuable to anyone building e-commerce applications that cross not only divisional boundardies but corporate boundaries. The chapter on security was especially interesting and helpful for an e-commerce situation as well.

My introduction to Data Warehousing was a water cooler discussion with a colleague just returned from a Data Warehousing workshop. The main topic of that discussion was the long development time required by data warehousing projects and how foolish it was start any project where the first "deliverable" to a business user was planned for three years hence.

With the approach that Ms. Moeller presents in this book, however, data warehouse projects are made eminently manageable by planning a series of major deliverables spaced 3-6 months (not YEARS) apart - at a fraction of the cost of a full-blown "Data Warehouse." Data Warehousing projects no longer have to automatically connote the development of a "black hole."

Potential readers should be aware that this book is not a "how-to-do-it." Rather, it focuses on what has to be done and how to approach a Data Warehousing project in general.

One final note: having read Ms. Moeller's past articles in the journal "InfoDB", she continues to present very technical information in a lucid, clear writing style. I'm still amazed that I read each chapter straight through in one sitting. This is the first "technical book" I have read in a very long time about which I can make that statement.

I have been hearing about this e-Business stuff and associated acronynms for a while now: B2B, B2C, e-Commerce, EDI, m-Commerce..on and on. No book had so far explained to me what it all means to a DBA like me. This book finally explain in clear and simple terms what all the hoopla is about.

The author uses simple and clear language in explaining the issues that really matter to DBAs....both technical and non-technical aspects of the e-Business environment are covered in this book.

Thank you Meghraj for the wonderful explanation and clearing the myths.

This book is an excellent source of information for Oracle DBAs that work in an e-Business environment. I have read a number of books on e-Business and Oracle but this book does a superb job in showing what e-Business means to an Oracle DBA like me.
I especially liked the chapters on availability and security. Each page in those chapters contains very good stuff. In my company, high availability and security is a must and the techniques shown in the book are a lifesaver. e.g. encryption techniques, implementing redundancy, security loop holes and so on.

I have been an Oracle DBA for over 10 years now and am in the process of transitioning from a "traditional" DBA to an "internet" DBA. This book has helped me enormously in understanding the various issues and solutions related to using Oracle with the Web. Each chapter of the book is packed with valuable information. The author does a great job in explaining the issues involved in such projects and also provides real-world tips and techniques for achieving availability, scalability, security and performance in e-Businesses using Oracle. I highly recommend this book as a good read and ready reference for Oracle DBAs, Developers and even Project Managers of Web-based projects and e-Business initiatives that make use of Oracle