This book was written by an Irish man for the Irish public. It is brief but well written. It is sorely lacking any maps. It would be greatly enhanced by historical maps. Those of us in the USA are not familar with the geography of Ireland. He also sometimes slips in some Gaelic phrases and assumes the reader understands it. I didn't. It would also help to know some history of the Catholic church. I know little. With those limitations, I did learn some about Ireland.

I passed the exam but only because I got rid of this book and studied from MSDN a week before. The book covers most of the topics as if they were in a high school curriculum. I'd say if you are preparing for the MCSE/MCSD/MCP exam then DO NOT go by this book. But is fairly ok if you'd want an introduction to SQL Server 2000 before digging deeper into another detailed exam material.

I bought this book a couple months ago and I'm really disappointed because I found several wrong answers on it, not forgetting to mention the fact that several parts of this book are made from "topics". That's it. But... if I need to study by topics I'll go straight to Books Online, and not for this certification book, right?
My opinion: Look for another book. There must be other better than this.

I bought this book because the Exam Cram on 70-175 was excellent. However, I found this book almost useless. A lot of topics in the exam are not covered at all or enough by this book. You are very likely to fail the exam if you only rely on this book. The practical questions are stupid and too simple, you will be shocked when you do the real questions. To prepare the 70-229 exam, I highly recommend 'Professional SQL SERVER 2000 Programming' by Robert Vieira. That book covers everything you need to pass.

This is an attractive "point-of-sale," impulse item sort of a book that has you wondering "what was I thinking about when I bought this?" There is no theme around which the selected phrases are chosen. No gender or occassion. No inspirational or historical or career-oriented construct. It's just a bunch of the Latin "usual suspects" printed with a nice-enough graphic. No source documentation. No attributions. Just a drawing of the sun and the words, "Carpe Diem." It would more appropriately show a watercolor drawing of a pick-pocket and the pharse, "Caveat Emptor."

It would be a great gift item, but I cannot imagine to whom one would gift it.