No doubt about it, this is an old-school college text book with hard cover and durable binding.
This book is no light read and is focused on the design and management of relational database tables using uni-temporal and bi-temporal data primarily in a business setting such as healthcare systems utilizing transaction processing.
Objectives as mentioned in the book:
* Seamless Access to Temporal Data -- One objective of this book is to describe how to manage uni-temporal and bi-temporal data in relational databases in such a way that they can be seamlessly accessed together with current data.
* Encapsulation Of Temporal Data Structures and Processes -- A second objective is to describe how to encapsulate the complexities of uni-temporal and bi-temporal data management.
* Enterprise Contextualization -- A third objective of this book is to explain how to implement temporal data management as an enterprise solution.
* Internalization of Pipeline Datasets -- The final objective of this book is to describe how to bring pending transactions into their production tables that are their targets, and how to retain posted transactions in those same tables.
Working with temporal data on a daily basis I find this subject interesting and this book relevant to my needs but I can see where this subject matter would apply to a niche market.
This textbook is not for the casual reader and it assumes that the reader has a level of database skills already in place, has a familiarity with temporal data, some familiarity with relational database tables, and assumes the reader has some SQL coding skills or is familiar with the syntax.
There are many examples throughout the book and all examples are in black & white with diagrams or coding examples; there are no glossy photos. Although I have not yet been able to go through the entire book I can see that I will benefit from the information contained and apply it to my daily work.
This book is not for everyone and is not misleading in trying to sell itself as an all-in-one database development resource. The title says it all -- Managing Time in Relational Databases: How to Design, Update and Query Temporal Data