Headfirst SQL is very disappointing. But as a pedagogical example of what not to do, it was interesting. I understand that I'm not the target audience for the book, since I've got a grasp of the subject already. But I think a true beginner would get even less out of the book than I did.

To give the book a fair shake, I put myself in its hands, and worked through the book back to front as it recommended. Maybe sometime I'll write a long review with examples, but for now I'll just say the problems were in four categories:

1. The book takes fully 300 of its 500 pages to cover very simple single table SQL commands like basic INSERT and SELECT. It creates a false impression of complexity by dwelling on syntax minutia and unrealistic examples. After 300 pages the beginner won't even realize he's learned almost nothing of what's interesting about SQL, namely JOINS, which get short shrift.

2. The book can't decide whether to cover database theory, and the vacillation clutters and confuses the discussion.

3. Many errors in the examples.

4. The frequent pencil and paper questions and quizzes, a great idea in theory, are badly misapplied as pointless syntax drills.

A much better intro to building databases is this series of free tutorial videos on using SQL Server Express. It starts with the question "Why not just use a spreadsheet, or better yet, notepad to store your data?" and builds from there. Solid stuff.