Best SQL Books 2024

SQL (Structured Query Language) is a database management language that is used to work with relational databases. It is the most popular way to work with data in databases. Whatever software or web application you are building, there is a high chance you make use of SQL for your database. Having basic SQL skills is a bare minimum requirement for most developers, especially at startups and tech companies.

Learning SQL: Generate, Manipulate, and Retrieve Data 3rd Edition

by Alan Beaulieu will teach you SQL from the basics all the way to advanced level. Learning SQL is an introductory guide will get you started with SQL quickly. The book is more than 300 pages of SQL information. You are start at the basics of SQL and each chapter grows with difficulty and advanced SQL techniques. Learning SQL will teach you how to interact data with queries, create database objects and use SQL’s built-in functions for data manipulation. Every chapter in this book is bot sized and easy to read and digest. At the end of every chapter, you are tested on the programming language what you have just learned. This further solidifies your knowledge of SQL. This book will teach you:

• SQL basics quickly
• Learn SQL advanced features
• Use SQL data statements to generate, manipulate, and retrieve data
• Use SQL schema statements to create database objects, such as tables, indexes, and constraints
• Learn how data sets interact with queries, and understand the importance of subqueries
• Convert and manipulate data with SQL’s built-in functions
• Use conditional logic in data statements

This is the best SQL book for beginners in 2023.

SQL Cookbook: Query Solutions and Techniques for All SQL Users

by Anthony Molinaro, Robert de Graaf uses a practical approach to Structured Query Language (SQL) to allow you to generate and manipulate big data sets using sql knowledge. This updated cookbook provides a framework to help you design solutions and executable examples in multiple SQL dialects, including Oracle, DB2, SQL Server, MySQL, and PostgreSQL, based on real-world examples.

SQL Cookbook is a great problem-solving resource for SQL programmers, analysts, data scientists, database administrators, and even relatively inexperienced SQL users. No other website provides recipes in this way to help you solve annoying SQL problems on a daily basis. The second edition includes the following:

Recipes have been completely updated to reflect the increased use of window functions in SQL implementations.
Additional recipes that reflect the frequent use of common table expressions (CTEs) to make solutions more readable and simple to apply sql skill.
New recipes to make SQL more helpful for non-database experts, such as data scientists.
Solutions for working with numbers and strings that are more comprehensive
SQL recipes that are up to date are sprinkled throughout the book to help you learn the basics.

Practical SQL, 2nd Edition: A Beginner’s Guide to Storytelling with Data

Practical SQL is an intuitive and fast-paced primer to SQL. A journalist and data analyst, Anthony DeBarros, focuses on utilising SQL to unearth the story within your data. The examples and code use PostgreSQL and its companion pgAdmin interface, but the concepts you learn will apply to most database management systems, including MySQL, Oracle, SQLite, and others.

You’ll learn the principles of databases and the SQL language before applying your knowledge to real-world datasets including US Census demographics, New York City taxi rides, and US Geological Survey earthquakes. Each chapter contains exercises and examples that give even non-programmers the tools they need to create strong databases and access information quickly and efficiently.

You’ll learn how to:
• Use your own data to create databases and linked tables • Aggregate, sort, and filter data to uncover patterns
• For fundamental math and complex statistical procedures, use functions.
• Identify data issues and correct them
• Use a geographic information system (PostGIS) to analyse geographical data • Write complex queries and automate processes

SQL: 3 books 1 – The Ultimate Beginner, Intermediate & Expert Guides To Master SQL Programming Quickly with Practical Exercises

SQL: 3 books in 1 is great for people looking to improve their job prospects and careers, developers wanting to excel in their programming skills, managing data or anyone who wants to have a deep understanding of our data-driven future—even if they have no prior coding knowledge!

This guide aims to make it simple for you to begin your journey, regardless of your skills or expertise. Each chapter of this book builds on the previous chapters in an easy step-by-step approach.

1. You will study theory and how to put it into practice RIGHT NOW.

2. You will not only find a simple instruction manual that doesn’t just concentrate on theory and boring explanations, but also a dynamic and interactive GUIDE that offers solid practical experience as well.

3. All the essential tools and best strategies to learn SQL for complete beginners + advanced knowledge for those with more experience.

You will discover:

SQL: The Ultimate Beginners Guide To Learn SQL Programming Step-by-Step:

Understanding the basic structures of databases & database management systems
SQL Server
Working With MySQL Databases
Using queries to obtain data
Creating an SQL view
How to setup & create a database
How to modify and control tables
Dealing with errors

SQL: The Ultimate Intermediate Guide To Learn SQL Programming Step-by-Step:

A refresher on SQL fundamentals
An easy-to-follow tutorial on setting up and configuring SQL
Data types and their functions
View encryption, creation, and indexing
Using stored routines and functions to their full potential
The advantages of data normalization
SQL for data analysis

SQL: The Ultimate Expert Guide To Learn SQL Programming Step-by-Step:

Data Access with ODBC and JDBC
Working with SQL and XML
SQL and JSON
Datasets and Cursors
Procedural Capabilities
Collections
Large Objects
Tuning and Compiling

With this practical and in-depth 3 books in 1, start writing your own programs quickly and efficiently and increase your performance. If you want to access the best knowledge on SQL and learn well & fast, then you need to start this guide today!

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

Walter Shields, an experienced mentor and SQL specialist, draws on his extensive knowledge to make relational database management accessible, understandable, and extremely actionable in this thorough tutorial. SQL QuickStart Guide is great for those wishing to further their professions, developers looking to improve their programming skills, or anyone who wants to take advantage of our inescapably data-driven future—even if they have no prior coding expertise. The SQL QuickStart Guide is ideal for the following situations:

Professionals that want to improve their job abilities in order to be more data-driven in the future
Job seekers who wish to beef up their resume and abilities for a long-term competitive advantage
Beginners who have never done anything before
Managers, executives, and business owners who need to handle data-driven business insights
Anyone who wants to be better equipped for our data-driven future! Developers aiming to enhance their skills beyond the whole stack

SQL for Data Analysis: Advanced Techniques for Transforming Data into Insights

by Cathy Tanimura reveals fresh and previously unknown ways to improve your SQL skills, solve challenges, and make the most of SQL in your workflow You’ll learn how to mix SQL approaches to achieve your goals faster and with clear code, as well as how to use both conventional and exotic SQL functions such as joins, window functions, subqueries, and regular expressions in new, imaginative ways. This is a must-have reference for everyone who works with SQL databases. You will:

Learn how to prepare your data for analysis by following these simple steps.
Use SQL’s date and time manipulations to do time series analysis.
Investigate how groups change over time using cohort analysis.
For text analysis, use SQL’s sophisticated functions and operators.
Outliers in your data should be identified and replaced with alternate values.

SQL Pocket Guide: A Guide to SQL Usage

This popular pocket guide is your ideal on-the-job reference if you use SQL in your day-to-day work as a data analyst, data scientist, or data engineer. There are numerous examples that address the intricacies of SQL, as well as key components of SQL utilised in Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL, Oracle Database, PostgreSQL, and SQLite.

Author Alice Zhao describes how various database management systems use SQL syntax for querying and changing databases in this updated edition. Data types and conversions, regular expression syntax, window functions, pivoting and unpivoting, and other topics are covered. You will:

Look up how to use SQL to complete specific jobs quickly.
Apply the syntax examples in the book to your own queries.
Make SQL queries compatible with five different database management systems.
NEW: Connect a relational database to Python and R.
NEW: In the “How Do I?” chapter, look up frequently asked SQL questions.

Head First SQL: Your Brain on SQL — A Learner’s Guide

Is your data dragging you down? Are your tables all tangled up? Well we’ve got the tools to teach you just how to wrangle your databases into submission. Using the latest research in neurobiology, cognitive science, and learning theory to craft a multi-sensory SQL learning experience, Head First SQL has a visually rich format designed for the way your brain works, not a text-heavy approach that puts you to sleep.

Maybe you’ve written some simple SQL queries to interact with databases. But now you want more, you want to really dig into those databases and work with your data. 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. We all know “Data is Power” – but we’ll show you how to have “Power over your Data”. Expect to have fun, expect to learn, and expect to be querying, normalizing, and joining your data like a pro by the time you’re finished reading!

SQL: The Complete Reference

The definitive guide to everything SQL.  This book contains over 900 pages of tips and tricks. It comprehensively covers every topic under the sun and then some. You are shown how to work with SQL command, make relational databases, execute and write queries, etc. The book is nicely broken down into chapters and organized and arranged in a way that makes whatever topic you’re looking for easy to find. With detailed explanations of syntax and code examples, everything you need as a developer is covered here. This book covers:

• How to build relational databases and applications
• Use SQL tp create, load, and modify database objects
• Write simple, multitable, and summary queries
• Implement security measures including authentication, privileges, roles, and views
• Handle database optimization, backup, recovery, and replication
• Stored procedures, functions, extensions, triggers, and objects
• Extend functionality with APIs, dynamic, and embedded
• Advanced topics including DBMS transactions, locking mechanisms, materialized views, and two-phase commit protocol

This is a book that advanced developers will get the best from, but even beginners can use it to look up topics in-depth. This is best SQL book in 2023.

SQL in 10 Minutes, Sams Teach Yourself

The fastest way to get started with SQL for beginners. A no-nonsense book that teaches you only what you need to know. You start at the basics with simple data retrieval. Then you work your way to advanced SQL topics. You are never overwhelmed at the complexity of advanced SQL techniques.

You will:

• Construct complex statements using multiple clauses and operators
• Retrieve, sort, and format database contents
• Filtering techniques to find data
• Use aggregate SQL functions to summarize data
• Insert, update, join and delete
• Create and alter database tables
• Work with views, stored procedures, and more

This is the among the best SQL book for beginners in 2023.

SQL Queries for Mere Mortals: A Hands-On Guide to Data Manipulation in SQL

by John L Viescas.

The simplest way to learn writing great SQL queries. This is a step by step guide to writing queries of all types. At almost 800 pages, this book is fully updated with all the new changes and deals with related tips and tricks. You will learn to write a  wide variety of queries to solve problems of various kinds. This book is filled with detailed practical examples, exercises, and discussions that will increase your knowledge and skill queries. This book will also teach you how to better optimize your SQL queries for effectiveness. Included:

• Getting started with SQL: understanding what relational databases are, and ensuring that your database structures are sound
• SQL basics: using SELECT statements, creating expressions, sorting information with ORDER BY, and filtering data using WHERE
• Summarizing and grouping data with GROUP BY and HAVING clauses
• Drawing data from multiple tables: using INNER JOIN, OUTER JOIN, and UNION operators, and working with subqueries
• Modifying data sets with UPDATE, INSERT, and DELETE statements
• Advanced queries: complex NOT and AND, conditions, if-then-else using CASE, unlinked tables, driver tables, and more
• Using advanced GROUP BY keywords to create subtotals, roll-ups, and more
• Applying window functions to answer more sophisticated questions, and gain deeper insight into your data

SQL Practice Problems

57 beginning, intermediate, and advanced challenges for you to solve using a “learn-by-doing” approach by Sylvia Moestl Vasilik helps you in learning how to solve these problems will give you the skills and confidence to advance your career. With SQL Practice Problems, you can gain this level of experience by solving specific problem sets. These are not just problems designed as syntax examples. These are the most common problems encountered when processing data. You’ll get real-world practice, with real-world data. You will think about SQL, how to analyze data problems, understand the fundamentals, and work on a solution that you can be proud of.

What do you get when you buy SQL practice problems?

Installation instructions for Microsoft SQL Server Express Edition and SQL Server Management Studio (Microsoft Windows required). Both are free downloads.
A personalized practice database, with a video presentation on its implementation
Practice Problems: 57 problems you tackle, step by step. There is specific advice, if you need it, to guide you through the matter.
Answers and a short discussion section focused on each question, with alternative answers and tips on usage and good programming practices.

The Art of SQL

The Art of SQL by Stephane Faroult and Peter Robson provides best practices that teach experienced SQL users to focus on strategy rather than details. 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. Talent cannot be taught, but all strategists, from Sun Tzu to modern generals, believed that it could be cultivated through the experience of others. They conveyed their field experience through basic SQL concepts that served as guiding stars amid the sound and fury of battle. This is what Faroult does with SQL.

Like a successful battle plan, good architectural choices are based on contingencies. What happens if the volume of this or that table increases unexpectedly? What if, after a merger, the number of users doubles? What if you want to keep years of data online? Faroult’s way of viewing SQL performance may be unconventional and unique, but he is extremely serious about writing good SQL and using it. The art of SQL is not a cookbook, it lists problems and offers recipes. The goal is for you and your manager to ask good questions.

SQL Antipatterns

Avoiding the Pitfalls of Database Programming (Pragmatic Programmers) by Bill Karwin it’s a collection of anti-patterns, the most common mistakes that he identified in those thousands of help requests. Most developers are not SQL experts and most of the SQL used is inefficient, difficult to maintain, and sometimes just plain wrong. This book shows you all the common mistakes and then guides you through the best solutions. Plus, it shows him what’s behind these fixes, so he’ll learn a lot about relational databases along the way.

Each chapter in this book helps you identify, explain, and correct a unique and dangerous anti-pattern. The four parts of the book bring together anti-models in terms of logical database design, physical database design, querying, and application development. Most likely, your application’s database layer already contains issues like Index Shotgun, Keyless Entry, Fear of the Unknown, and Spaghetti Query. This book will help you and your team find them. Best of all, it will also show you how to fix them and how to avoid these and other problems in the future.

SQL anti-patterns give you a rare insight into an SQL expert’s playbook. Now you can eliminate these common errors from the database once and for all. No matter what platform or programming language you use, whether you are a junior programmer, experienced programmers or a PhD student, SQL Antipatterns will show you how to design and build databases, how to write better database queries, and how to integrate SQL programming into your application. . as an expert. You will also learn the latest and greatest technologies for full-text search, how to design code that is resistant to SQL injection attacks, and other techniques for success.