Database Underground | Sean McCown | InfoWorld | Take a Safari | January 4, 2007 07:36 PM

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Take a Safari

January 04, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Take a Safari

Last fall I acquired a subscription to Safari Books Online. At first I wasn't sure what to think. I was a little skeptical thinking, well, this is just another online book repository where you can find all the out-dated IT books. That's not the case at all!!

Safari books is without a doubt the only IT book reference I would recommend thus far. In pretty much every IT shop I've worked in, there's always a push to collect an IT library for the staff to check out. The problem with that is it constantly costs you money, and of course, only one person at a time can read any one book.

Safari has so many books I can't even count, and from several publishers. I'm not being paid for this endorsement. I use Safari and I love it. It's got so many new releases like Ken Henderson's new book, and a SQL Server 2005 training kit from MS Press. And while I can find IT books out there that aren't on Safari, their list is so extensive and so impressive, you won't want for any topic.

So if you're looking to build an IT library, you really can't go wrong with Safari. You can add selections to your bookshelf and even bookmark your spot and make notes. I only wish you could download some of the selections, but somehow I think that wouldn't be beneficial to Safari. Well, actually, you can download individual chapters so I suppose eventually you'll get the entire book if you want it. All the same though, I really can't say enough about the service.

One of my favorite features is the search. You can search a book for a topic, or you can search ALL books for a topic. I just love that feature. I remember searching a book for a particular piece of code on SQL Server 2005, and it wasn't in the book I was reading at the time so I searched the entire library. The result set returned was pretty big, but it only took me about 5 mins to find what I needed.

OK, I'm bordering on over-talking it, so I'll shut up now. I just wanted to pass along a good resource while it was on my mind. As IT libraries go, you can't go wrong with Safari.

Posted by Sean McCown on January 4, 2007 07:36 PM

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You are so right. I have had a Safari subscription for a year now. It is a great way to stay on top of the books I want.

Posted by: Jeff McCormick at January 8, 2007 12:18 PM

I bought a Ajax Hax book a year back from Safari. It was part of their Rough Cuts service. I think it was through safari.oreilly.com and I was disappointed. It was poorly designed and slow service. The content was great but the way I accessed it was awkward.

Then just a month ago, I found a Rails book up there on the Rough Cuts program recently and tried again. Thinking it might have improved.

I was pleasently surprised. The PDFs are much better. The frequency of edits has increased. Looks like they have been invesing a lot of time to fix it up. Good news.

I would recommend Rough Cuts to everyone too.
http://safari.oreilly.com/roughcuts

Posted by: Pete Cole at January 10, 2007 09:12 AM

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