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I was excited when PostgreSQL 9 Admin Cookbook by Simon Riggs and Hannu Krosing and the companion book PostgreSQL 9 High Performance, by Greg Smith were available. All three authors are well known experts in the PostgreSQL community and consultants at 2ndQuadrant, so you are sure to learn a lot from both books. Both books are published by Packt Publishing and can be bought directly from Packt Publishing or via Amazon. Packt is currently running a 50% off sale if you buy both books (e-Book version) directly from Packt. In addition Packt offers free shipping for US, UK, Europe and select Asian countries. The pair of books make attractive companions.

The main thing I felt missing in this duo was a book dedicated to PostgreSQL: The platform that would cover all the various PL languages and the various neat ways PostgreSQL is used and has been extended by many to do things one would not normally expect of a database. Some day perhaps someone will write such a book.

This article is a review about PostgreSQL 9 Admin Cookbook and we'll be following up later with PostgreSQL 9 High Performance.

This is my first book review. I have a lot of patience for writing, but little patience when it comes to reading. That said, I found PostgreSQL 9 Admin Cookbook an easy and enjoyable read, and a book that I managed to learn more tricks from than I care to admit. It is a handy book to have for reference regardless of if you consider yourself a novice, intermediate or advanced user.

As the book title suggests, it's a cookbook, but a cookbook that combines a question and answer style with a discussion style of writing. The tasks are neatly categorized into 12 chapters and each task smoothly builds on previous tasks discussed. It is still categorized in such a way that you can jump to a particular task you are currently having problems with without having read the other parts of the book.

Although it is titled PostgreSQL 9 -- it covers earlier versions as well.