Top SQL books recommended by experts

At MentorCruise, we are all about making the most out of the experience of others. As part of that, we've connected and asked dozens of experts and professionals about their favourite SQL books – and here are the answers.

Table of Contents

Fundamentals of SQL

Understanding the concepts of SQL starts with understanding the fundamentals. On your way to mastery, it's crucial for you to understand how certain concepts were derived, and why things work like they do. Starting with these resources is the best way to do so.

SQL Performance Tuning

SQL Performance Tuning

Performance tuning, is checking and resolving issues potentially affecting the efficiency of a SQL database. The key to good performance is ensuring queries execute quickly with minimal resources. Using external tools is one way to get started with SQL performance tuning.

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise

The art of SQL

The art of SQL

The Art of SQL offers best practices that teach experienced SQL users to focus on strategy rather than specifics. Faroult's approach takes a page from Sun Tzu's classic treatise by viewing database design as a military campaign. You need knowledge, skills, and talent.

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PostGIS in Action

PostGIS in Action

PostGIS in Action, Third Edition teaches readers of all levels to write spatial queries for PostgreSQL. You'll start by exploring vector-, raster-, and topology-based GIS before quickly progressing to analyzing, viewing, and mapping data.

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SQL for Data Scientists: A Beginner's Guide for Building Datasets for Analysis

SQL for Data Scientists: A Beginner's Guide for Building Datasets for Analysis

SQL for Data Scientists: A Beginner's Guide for Building Datasets for Analysis is a resource that's dedicated to the Structured Query Language (SQL) and dataset design skills that data scientists use most.

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Head First SQL: Your Brain on SQL -- A Learner's Guide

Head First SQL: Your Brain on SQL -- A Learner's Guide

Head First SQL will show you the fundamentals of SQL and how to really take advantage of it. We'll take you on a journey through the language, from basic INSERT statements and SELECT queries to hardcore database manipulation with indices, joins, and transactions.

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SQL QuickStart Guide: The Simplified Beginner's Guide to Managing, Analyzing, and Manipulating Data With SQL

SQL QuickStart Guide: The Simplified Beginner's Guide to Managing, Analyzing, and Manipulating Data With SQL

The Best Sql Book For Beginners - Hands Down!*includes Free Access To A Sample Database, Sql Browser App, Comprehension Quizzes & Several Other Digital Resources!*sql Is The Workhorse Programming Language That Forms The Backbone Of Modern Data Management And Interpretation.any Database Management Professional Will Tell You That Despite Trendy Data Management Languages That Come And Go, Sql Rem…

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Additional SQL Reading

These books are not required for you to learn SQL, but they are highly recommended for you to deepen your knowledge.

SQL in 10 Minutes a Day, Sams Teach Yourself

SQL in 10 Minutes a Day, Sams Teach Yourself

Sams Teach Yourself SQL in 10 Minutes offers straightforward, practical answers when you need fast results. By working through the book's 22 lessons of 10 minutes or less, you'll learn what you need to know to take advantage of the SQL language.

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SQL Performance Explained: Everything Developers Need to Know about SQL Performance

SQL Performance Explained: Everything Developers Need to Know about SQL Performance

SQL Performance Explained helps developers to improve database performance. The focus is on SQL—it covers all major SQL databases without getting lost in the details of any one specific product.

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise

T-SQL Fundamentals

T-SQL Fundamentals

Master T-SQL fundamentals and write robust code for Microsoft SQL Server and Azure SQL Database. Itzik Ben-Gan explains key T-SQL concepts and helps you apply your knowledge with hands-on exercises. The book first introduces T-SQL’s roots and underlying logic. Next, it walks you through core topics such as single-table queries, joins, subqueries, table expressions, and set operators. Then the …

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise

SQL for Data Analytics: Perform Fast and Efficient Data Analysis with the Power of SQL

SQL for Data Analytics: Perform Fast and Efficient Data Analysis with the Power of SQL

SQL for Data Analytics covers everything you need progress from simply knowing basic SQL to telling stories and identifying trends in data. You'll be able to start exploring your data by identifying patterns and unlocking deeper insights.

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise

Practical SQL: A Beginner's Guide to Storytelling with Data

Practical SQL: A Beginner's Guide to Storytelling with Data

Practical SQL is an approachable and fast-paced guide to SQL (Structured Query Language), the standard programming language for defining, organizing, and exploring data in relational databases.

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise

SQL Cookbook

SQL Cookbook

In the SQL Cookbook, experienced SQL developer Anthony Molinaro shares his favorite SQL techniques and features. You'll learn about: Window functions, arguably the most significant enhancement to SQL in the past decade. If you're not using these, you're missing out.

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise

Specializations and Deeper SQL Knowledge

You've got your basics in order – time to move on to some advanced and specialized concepts. SQL is evolving every day, these books can help you master it.

SQL Practice Problems: 57 Beginning, Intermediate, and Advanced Challenges for You to Solve Using a "learn-by-doing" Approach

SQL Practice Problems: 57 Beginning, Intermediate, and Advanced Challenges for You to Solve Using a "learn-by-doing" Approach

The ability to write SQL is one of the most in-demand job skills. Are you prepared? It's easy to find basic SQL syntax information online. What's hard to find is challenging, well-designed, real-world problems—the type of problems that come up when you're dealing with data. Learning how to solve these problems will give you the skill and confidence to step up in your career.

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise

Joe Celko's SQL for Smarties: Advanced SQL Programming

Joe Celko's SQL for Smarties: Advanced SQL Programming

Joe Celkos SQL for Smarties: Advanced SQL Programming offers tips and techniques in advanced programming. This book is the fourth edition and it consists of 39 chapters, starting with a comparison between databases and file systems.

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