Inside Relational Databases with Examples in Access

Bill and I first wrote Inside Relational Databases to help people who were new to building databases. We could find lots of books that told people how to use their database engine of choice (Access, SQL Server, MySQL, whatever) but very few that described the underlying way in which relational databases work. So we wrote one. We guessed that many of the readers would be using Access, so we used Access to illustrate the relational model and called the book “Inside Relational Databases – with examples in Access”. However, we did try very hard to make it clear that the book wasn’t about how to drive Access; it was about the relational model that underpins all relational databases. We were simply using Access for illustrative purposes. To our enormous relief this was understood by those people kind enough to buy it and the book sold well.