by Randy Jay Yarger, George Reese, and Tom King

O'Reilly Press, 467 Pages

Databases are an essential part of the daily operation of many businesses and web sites. MySQL, & mSQL, by Rany Jay Yarger, George Reese, and Tim King, attempts to fill the vacuum of information on mid-sized databases. It explains the history, usage, and functionality of today's most popular "free" midrange databases, MySQL and mSQL, along with a description of proper relational database design. It includes instructions for database administration, and provides useful references on using both mSQL and MySQL with programming languages. In short, it includes everything needed to effectively implement MySQL and mSQL databases.

Unfortunately, though the book contains a great amount of helpful information, it is not very easy to read. Concepts are presented in a factual and efficient manner, but the concepts themselves are not organized very logically or sequentially. This tends to make it difficult to read from beginning to end.

Still, the has the trademark O'Reilly quality level of technical information. It can best be used when searching for a specific topic or problem, and the SQL reference it contains as well as the programming language guides to database integration make this book an invaluable tool.