Reviews for Practical PostgreSQL

1. Useful for first installs, basic SQL primer, but not much more

   Rated 2 out of 5 stars, January 12th, 2007

   Most O'Reilly material I find quite useful and enjoyable. Practical PostgreSQL was a bit of a disappointment, however. I'd advise you to peruse a copy before buying.
   
   Working with the book
   In working with the book, the table of contents and index are a bit thin. For me, this led to often having to browse through the pages. That makes the book a bit impractical for reference use.
   
   Little more than basic install, admin and SQL knowledge
   The material inside does cover a reasonable amount of knowledge useful in installing PostgreSQL and the basic administrative jobs involved. It also deals with SQL, although I found it to be of a rather basic level that I fear many will outgrow quickly.
   
   A plug for LXP?
   The book seems to deal a considerable amount of space to LXP, a commercial product developed by the authors. The chapter describing it is one of the longest in the book. I did not find this very useful and would rather have seen more advanced SQL material.

2. Very poor introduction to PostgreSQL

   Rated 1 out of 5 stars, February 12th, 2004

   This book provides a very brief introduction to SQL, a rehash of the installation instructions that come with PostgreSQL itself, and an infuriating "advert" for the authors own commercial addon. Anyone interested in learning how to use PostgreSQL would be much better served by purchasing "PostgreSQL: Introduction and Concepts" by Bruce Momjian, or using the excellent documentation that comes with PostgreSQL.

   Books published by O'Reilly used to have a reputation for expanding on freely available documentation in an insightful and well edited manner. However, O'Reilly's recent titles have been little better than the insipid "... For Dummies" series.

3. pretty useless

   Rated 2 out of 5 stars, July 12th, 2002

   the bulk of the book is filled with trivially simple examples that really recap standard SQL statements and not postgres specific things. the more advanced chapters briefly gloss over the real interesting bits but again with useless simple examples.
   the chapter on LXP is a waste of time, it is only of passing interest and belongs on the web not in a book.
   the index is also useless, there's no entry for "cursors" or "keys"!?!...

4. Excellent book, just for beginners

   Rated 5 out of 5 stars, April 12th, 2002

   Well, I've been using PostgreSQL for about a month before it was time to buy a book and get to grips with SQL. This book laid out the things I needed to know in an understandable fashion. Though, one needs to start at the start and read the first three chapters before you start picking pages to read. I can say that this book paid for itself by one SQL command I'd never come across before, it saved my bacon :)
   I would have like a better index, but you can't ask for eveything.

5. An excellent book for beginners needing a crash course.

   Rated 5 out of 5 stars, January 12th, 2002

   Having skimmed through a number of books on PostgreSQL this one grabbed my attention by being easily the clearest. It teaches how to use PostgreSQL in a logical way and while it is not a database design book, it gives enough information without getting over-technical. While a little familiarity with linux is expected, the book starts with the absolute basics when it comes to SQL by giving a brief but informative history of relational databases before moving on to teach how to use SQL with PostgreSQL.

   Advanced sections such as programming PostgreSQL and using triggers etc mean that by the time you finish reading you are at a good intermediate level and can make use of the command reference at the back to look up any additional details that you need.