The other day I was looking up some information about SQL Server Profiler and I came across this book “Mastering SQL Server Profiler” by Brad McGehee.  It is in PDF format, so I downloaded it and opened it up to take a look. 306 pages.  Oh my!  On just Profiler alone!  Then I grabbed another book, “SQL Server Execution Plans” by Grant Fritchey.  This one was 181 pages! And my Reporting Services book tops those two at 866 pages.

Ten years ago, when I started my first job in the database world, working with SQL Server 6.5, I could not have imagined the volume of information dedicated to SQL Server.  Back then, a whole book on the product was only 400-500 pages.  The product has grown so much that no one person could know it all.  Even the people considered the most knowledgeable about SQL Server typically specialize in just a part of it.  That’s probably why I have over 25 different SQL Server blogs in my RSS reader.  No one blog covers it all.

I have to remind myself to focus my self study efforts.  I have to partition out all the things I would like to know about SQL Server into two buckets:  stuff I need in my head and stuff I should just know to how to look up.   It’s less stressful that way.