Re: Books - Mailing list pgsql-novice

On Thu, 2 Dec 2004, Hari Bhanujan wrote:

>
>
> I started with Postgresql  (Korry and Susan Douglas). It's a simple
> enough book to start with and gives more information about
> Administration than some of the books that you have listed. It costs
> $49.99 USD.
>
> PostgreSQL Developer's Handbook -  $99.95  Ewald Geschwinde ;Hans-Jurgen
> Schoenig (This is a really good book if you are a developer)
>
> Beginning Databases with PostgreSQL -  $94.95 Richard Stones ;Neil
> Matthew
> (This is one book I would not recommend - Just a rehash of some of the
> other books that are out there).
>
> The prices that you have listed are downright scary. I don't know what
> the conversion rate is but surely you can get some cheaper books from
> amazon.com if that option is available to you 'Down Under'.
>
> Regards
> Hari
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: pgsql-novice-owner@postgresql.org
> [mailto:pgsql-novice-owner@postgresql.org] On Behalf Of Kim Kohen
> Sent: Thursday, December 02, 2004 4:26 AM
> To: Postgres Novice lIst
> Subject: [NOVICE] Books
>
> All,
>
> I'm looking for a good book for an absolute PostgreSQL beginner. I have
> used
> MySQL a bit but have only gotten as far as installing PG.
>
> The local book store only has a few titles:
>
> PostgreSQL Developer's Handbook -  $99.95  Ewald Geschwinde ;Hans-Jurgen
> Schoenig
>
> PostgreSQL Essential Reference -  $84.95  Barry Stinson
>
> Beginning Databases with PostgreSQL -  $94.95 Richard Stones ;Neil
> Matthew
>
> PostgreSQL -  $95.94  Bruce Momjian
>
> Book Of Postgresql -  $79.95 Robert Bernier
>
> Any recommendations from this list would be appreciated
>
> Cheers and thanks
>
> Kim
>
>

Rule 1 (Not PostgreSQL "Rules" :) ): For a textbook or reference book
such as this, check amazon price (note - include freight charges) - it
likely works out much cheaper than local prices.

And, as the USD has been dropping against the AUD, the savings have
been increasing.

I recently bought some books from amazon, and they are remarkably
cheaper than buying locally (unless you are lucky enough to find an
occasional Angus & Robertson special, at 20AUD or less).

One of the books that I bought, was the Douglas book.

From looking at the Douglas book, that seems fairly good - going from
starting off, to programming with scripting (Perl, PHP, etc) front-ends.

We had a printed copy of Bruce Momjian's online book (from when it was
published incomplete on the Internet), and that was good for my missus
to start with PostgreSQL and to write a small expert system shell for a
Postgrad Diploma project. But that was a freeby, hard to find nowadays.
I had started some command-line stuff with PostgreSQL, back then, but
hadn't done anything else with it since then.

I am not as experienced as most on the PostgreSQL lists, but getting the
Douglas book from amazon (and buy some more books from amazon, at the
same time, to drop the shipping cost per book), is my recommendation.
Oh, and, if you buy one or two other books at the same time, you may be
able to get two or more books for the same price as you would pay for a
single book locally.

The only issue with buying from amazon, is that you may have to wait a
couple of weeks for delivery, as opposed to getting a book immediately
from your local bookshop, if the particular book is in stock. And,
amazon refuse to deliver to P O Boxes, and will only deliver to street
addresses, which means that you could have a delivery left on your front
doorstep for anyone who sees it and wants it, to take, as my deliveries
from amazon, were delivered by the post office parcels delivery
contractor, who left them on the front doorstep.

But, those are all issues for you to consider.

--
Bret Busby
Armadale
West Australia
..............

"So once you do know what the question actually is,
 you'll know what the answer means."
- Deep Thought,
  Chapter 28 of
  "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy:
  A Trilogy In Four Parts",
  written by Douglas Adams,
  published by Pan Books, 1992
....................................................