From the outside relational databases appear to be a rather abstract and difficult subject. This book shows just how simple and useful databases can be. It assumes no existing knowledge and uses real world examples to demonstrate how to manage data efficiently. Finally, the book explains the really powerful part of relational databases - normalization, joins and finally SQL. IMO, a really good book. Good companion books are "Sams Teach Yourself SQL in 10 minutes" and "Programming the Network with Perl" by Paul Barry.