Essential Books
This page lists the most valuable books on my bookshelf. In my opinion, these books contain knowledge or wisdom that is so valuable and so hard to find that they’re worth far more than the cover price. I read a lot of books; I post independent, unbiased, non-paid-for reviews of selected books on this blog; and I mention the best of the best here on this page. If you’re interested in sending me a review copy of a book, please feel free to contact me.
High Performance MySQL
High Performance MySQL
I’m the lead author of this book. It is the must-have book for anyone who goes beyond casual use of MySQL. There’s no other book like it. Call me biased if you wish!
Web Operations
Web Operations
I’m a contributing author to this book. It’s a groundbreaking look at an emerging discipline, and explains how leading practitioners think and act to keep systems up and people happy. I reviewed it here.
Optimizing Oracle Performance
Optimizing Oracle Performance
This is an essential book for anyone interested in performance of any system, not just Oracle. I reviewed it here.
Understanding MySQL Internals
Understanding MySQL Internals
This book complements High Performance MySQL extremely well. I believe it should be mandatory reading for MySQL DBAs and developers once they have a working knowledge of how to use the server. I reviewed it here.
The Art of Capacity Planning
The Art of Capacity Planning
This is a clear and simple book on how to measure and plan for capacity. Highly recommended. I reviewed it here.
Beginning Database Design: From Novice to Professional
Beginning Database Design
A well-written introduction to database design. I reviewed it here.
Scalable Internet Architectures
Scalable Internet Architectures
A great all-around book about building scalable systems. I reviewed it here.
SQL and Relational Theory
SQL and Relational Theory
C. J. Date’s most recent book on relational theory is vastly improved over the previous one, and is well worth reading deeply to gain both the formal and the intuitive understanding needed to write correct SQL. I didn’t like it at first, but really changed my mind about it later. I reviewed it here.
Higher Order Perl
Higher Order Perl
This book changed my whole approach to programming. It was as revolutionary for me as the day that I truly understood what a variable is. I am not sure you’ll get much out of it if you don’t know Perl, but it might be worth learning Perl just to be able to appreciate the paradigm shift you can learn from this book.
Cloud Application Architectures
Cloud Application Architectures
A great book on this topic. Short — 150 pages — but very deep, and highly readable. Mostly about the Amazon platform. The author really knows first-hand how to build apps and businesses in the cloud! I reviewed it here.
