Data Modeler's Workbench: Tools and Techniques for Analysis and Design,   ISBN:9780471111757

Customer Rating: 

The book takes you through the process of producing a Data Model - from the point at which you are asked to create a model through to completion. It offers a wealth of practical advice and tools to enable you to create a model that will be fit for purpose.

I use this book in my professional work as a consultant Data Architect and I recommend it to all of my colleagues.

Customer Rating: 

While the early chapters go overboard with meta-meta-meta-data, the latter chapters are truly exceptional. Hoberman's experience doing data models at many firms shows through here, which translates into truly smart advice. Chapters 8 and 9 are gems, and should be required reading for all data modelers.

Customer Rating: 

I loved that book since it is full of practical advices and really justifies its goal of being Modeler's workbench. I use this book often in my daily data modeling practice.

Customer Rating: 

I just finished reading the Data Modeler's Workbench cover to cover. It is an excellent piece - or as Steve would say, a great story!

I wish I had read this when I first bought it years ago. It would have really helped my modeling career - and I've been a modeler the past seven years.

I think this book is a must read for modelers of any level - from start to finish, not skipping chapters. It nails requirements gathering and analysis, providing templates for capturing same, recognizing that is where the most work lies. I really like the normalization hike and analogy to hiking to the highest peak, then denormalizing and/or abstracting.

It is not a book on theory written by some college professor or glorified lecturer that never or rarely worked in the field; rather, Steve is a tenured data professional who took the time to write down how he does it successfully. Why reinvent the wheel or proceed along in a haphazard way when he lays out how to do it?

Steve also has all the templates on his website, which is a big help.

Customer Rating: 

I like the way Steve uses analogies to help us better understand modeling. His introductions to each chapter are both amusing and a great intro to the subject matter in each chapter. His creative way of introducing techniques and the innovativeness of the techniques themselves have had a large impact on the way our department does data modeling. There are two books every data modeler must own: This book and Data Modeling Essentials by Simsion.