Long time SSC participant Grant Fitchey has published a great book on reading/understanding execution plans. I finally had the chance to read it last week (on vacation) and was pleased with it, he did a great job covering the concepts and I noted that he had the answers to many of the common questions I hear from students. In particular I like the extended coverage of cursors (not commonly used, but they still happen) and XML within query plans (which I use rarely and will be re-reading that chapter). Dissecting SQL Server Execution Plans is available at Amazon, and Red Gate has also been offering it as a free PDF download (check their site). I'll be adding it to my list of recommended reading for those that train with us in Orlando.

These are unsolicited/unpaid comments - no agenda other than recognizing a book that will be valuable to many.

I grabbed Pro SQL Server 2005 High Availability by Allan Hirt recently to add to the library and I've been pleased with it even though it's expensive as books go, close to $60. Really good coverage of everything you need to know to figure our your HA strategy, with lots of emphasis on clustering (but all types of HA are covered well). The only part I wish had more was on hardware related stuff - split mirror/business continuity volume stuff. As he mentions each vendor is different, but a walk through of any one vendor might make it easier for readers to better understand their options.

Highly recommended.

I've been meaning to post this, Joe's latest book Joe Celko's Thinking in Sets: Auxiliary, Temporal, and Virtual Tables in SQL is available on Amazon for about $24. Here's an excerpt of the excerpt:

"Joe Celko has looked deep into the code of novice SQL programmers and found a consistent and troubling pattern. These programmers have not changed their approach from writing code for a procedural language, like C, to a declarative language--which is what SQL is. As a result they are not fully using the power and capability inherent in SQL and that translates into writing more code than they need to write, more complex code than is needed, and ultimately lower productivity."

Haven't read it yet, just ordered my copy, but usually he has some pretty good ideas about how to solve problems. Hopefully this is more than a multi page rant!