12Aug 2019 by Grant Fritchey 6 Comments

Announcing a New Book: Query Store for SQL Server 2019

SQL Server
I'm pleased as punch to be able to share with you the fact that I helped Tracy Boggiano write a whole new book on Query Store. It will be available in October. You can pre-order it now. Tracy is a great author and a serious scholar of SQL Server. She's put together an excellent resource on Query Store. I added a couple of chapters just to help her out, but this is truly her book. Query Store is incredibly simple to use. It is however a bear to manage, so getting Tracy's book is a must if you're going to be implementing Query Store on your databases. By the way, you really should be implementing Query Store on your databases. Tracy covers all the topics from reporting with Query Store,…
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12Sep 2018 by Grant Fritchey 30 Comments

3rd Edition, SQL Server Execution Plans, a Story

SQL Server, SQL Server 2016, SQL Server 2017
Four years ago, after a bunch of dithering and some negotiations with Tony Davis, my editor, I started to update my book, SQL Server Execution Plans. We managed to convince Hugo Kornelis to be the tech editor. I started to do the real writing in early 2015. I was most of the way through a first draft and no one liked it. Tony was unhappy. Hugo was unhappy. I was unhappy. I was just trying to update the existing book, SQL Server Execution Plans. It wasn't working. We all came to the conclusion that the old book was wrong. Not simply in a technical sense, although there was a lot of that, but in a structural sense. So we started rearranging things. SQL Server 2014 came out, but I was…
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27Jun 2012 by Grant Fritchey 5 Comments

The New Phone Book Is Here!

PASS
I can't help it. I get really terribly excited when I publish a book. Maybe it should be old hat. Maybe I should be jaded. But I'm just a 12 year old (it's been argued 10) in reality so I get really, really jumping up & down excited when I get that wad of paper and my name is on the cover. It just doesn't seem to get old. What am I talking about? Oh, sorry. Let me explain. After about nine months of work, my new, revised edition, of the Query Performance Tuning book is available. I want to publicly, and loudly, thank Joe Sack(blog|twitter) for the incredible job he did as tech editor. His hard work, and ruthless criticism, made this book what it is. Despite the scar…
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26Jun 2012 by Grant Fritchey 29 Comments

Problems with my new book

Professional Development, SQL Server
First off, I apologize. As if writing a book wasn't hard enough, now we get new problems because of on-demand printing. Here's the story. Book. Nine months of writing. Excellent technical editing. Great copy editing. Book complete about six weeks ago. Yay! Now things get fun... Here's how it works. Everyone these days uses digital copies of the book and prints on demand. So Apress is printing some copies of the book, but not all. They send a file out to places like Amazon. Amazon uses that file to print some copies of the book, as needed, on-demand. Everyone is, in theory, printing from the same digital file, creating exactly the same book. Or are they? What happens if, oh, let's just say that a file was corrupted somehow prior to…
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29Aug 2011 by Grant Fritchey No Comments

Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us

Professional Development
I’ve finished my 3rd book as part of my year long commitment to read and review professional/personal development books. I read one of my favorite authors this time, Seth Godin and his book, Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us . I’ve either been very smart or very lucky in my choice of books. I’ve enjoyed all three. But this one was better than the other two. Then again, this is my third Seth Godin book, I think I’m predisposed to enjoying his writing. The core idea behind the book is predicated on two facts. First, humans tend to congregate, we’re social critters. Second, you can take the lead of your tribe. Easy stuff, right? Wrong. It’s complicated and weird and hard. The book doesn’t even remotely suggest otherwise. This…
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26Oct 2010 by Grant Fritchey 1 Comment

New Book on Query Optimizer

Uncategorized
Benjamin Nevarez (blog) has been working really hard on a book on the Query Optimizer. It just got finished in time so that there will be copies available at the PASS Summit. I strongly recommend you track it down. There's a lot to learn between the covers. How do I know since the book just got finished and isn't in anyone's hands yet? Because I've been watching it get built. I put in my small efforts as the technical editor. I feel bad about that because I've always learned from my technical editors and I'm fairly sure I learned more from Benjamin than he did from me. Get a copy of the book. You won't be disappointed.
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11Apr 2009 by Grant Fritchey No Comments

SQL Server Execution Plans Published… Again

T-SQL
My first book is finally in print. OK. I know. It sounds funny. But my first book was printed in only a limited print run from Red Gate, most of which they gave away at Tech Ed last year. Then they offered it for free in an electronic form. Very few people got a printed copy. Well, if you were waiting around for the dead tree version, it's here! Thanks again to Tony Davis & Brad McGehee for all the work they did. It just wouldn't have been possible without them.
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18Aug 2008 by Grant Fritchey No Comments

Training and Learning

SQL Server, Tools
I think these are usually two different things, but most people conflate the two. There was a great discussion over at SQL Server Central based on an editorial by Steve Jones. It's worth reading through to see how people learn or get themselves trained. One common theme is reading books. I'm looking at stacks of them all over my desk, so it would be hard to deny their use. If you too like to read, then I've got something for you. Red Gate is doing a promotion where, when you purchase SQL Tool Belt, you can also download five E-Books offered by Apress. Several of them look pretty interesting, so this is a good deal. Not to mention, if you're not using some of the tools from SQL Tool Belt already, you're…
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28Mar 2008 by Grant Fritchey No Comments

New SCOM Book

Tools
I got a new SCOM book in the mail yesterday, System Center Operations Manager Unleashed. It's friggin' huge. I've just started reading through it and it looks pretty good. So far, it's much more thorough than the only other book available for SCOM, Mastering System Center Operations Manager 2007. I'm going to ready through more of it before I post a review to Amazon. I think I'll write up a review for the PASS book reviews too. Hey, if you have time on your hands, get on over there, request a book and write up your own review.
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