Acknowledgments
Writing has always been and will always be a truly cooperative and collaborative effort, despite what you may have heard about it. Editors, production staff, technical reviewers, colleagues, family, and friends all help you realize your dream project and get it off the ground. I’ve always been very lucky and grateful throughout the years to have such people around me, who continue to be ready and willing to lend their help. These are the people who provided encouragement and kept me focused on the task at hand, and it is to them that I extend my most heartfelt appreciation. For this 25th anniversary edition of Database Design for Mere Mortals®, I think it is an appropriate time as any to thank the key people who have helped nurture this book since Day One.
First and foremost, I want to thank my absolutely wonderful editor, Kim Spenceley, who competently and lovingly guided this edition from a passing thought in my mind to the book you have in your hands now. She was so encouraging and enthusiastic about me writing a 25th anniversary edition, and it was her patience, kindness, and leadership that helped me take on this work and bring it to successful completion. A special thanks to Chris Zahn and his production staff—they’ve done top-notch work! I must say that Chris is meticulous, and you can tell he loves what he does. I want to thank my production editor Lori Lyons for guiding the copyedit and final review process and Vaishnavi Venkatesan for guiding composition. It went so smoothly, and I think the book looks just great! I also thank my copy editor Paula Lowell for the absolutely marvelous job she did on the copyedit. She really sharpened up the material, and any final mistakes you see in this book are very likely mine.
I would like to acknowledge my distinguished technical reviewers Michelle Poolet, co-founder and President of Mount Vernon Data Systems LLC; Richard Banks, a Senior Consultant and Trainer at SoftResult.com; and Dr. Jared Wuerzburge, an Assistant Professor at Indiana State University. All graciously and generously gave their time, effort, and vast expertise to lend a hand in refreshing and refining the material. Michelle served as the chief technical reviewer and provided me with a wealth of valuable feedback and suggestions. Her contributions undoubtedly helped to update and fine-tune the overall content of the book. To top it off, she graciously agreed to write the Foreword for this edition, and I’m so happy and honored that she did. Richard has an eagle eye for details, and he caught subtle and nuanced points about the material that other reviewers would have missed. He definitely helped to smooth out some final rough edges. Professor Wuerzburge brought a few things to my attention from a different perspective. It was quite refreshing and added to the final polish of the material. Many thanks once again to all of you for your time and input and for helping to make this edition the best yet!
Next, I want to acknowledge and thank the folks who helped me with the third edition: my fabulous editor, Joan Murray; production editor, John Fuller, and his staff; production editor, Caroline Senay; copy editor, Audrey Doyle; and my technical review team Tracy Thornton, Tony Wiggins, and Theodor Richardson.
Let me now acknowledge and thank the folks who helped me with the second edition: my outstanding editor, Mary O’Brien, and her assistants Alicia Carey, Stacie Parillo, and Brenda Mulligan; production editor, John Fuller, and his staff; production editor, Tyrrell Albaugh; copy editor, Jennifer Kelland; and my technical review team, Sandy Barker, Michael Blaha, Matt Greer, and Michelle Poolet (this was our first time working together).
Finally, I want to acknowledge and thank the folks who helped me with the first edition. First, I thank my awesome editor Kathleen Tibbets, who approached me about writing this book in the first place. Here’s the story on how this book came to be.
We were both attending a PC Database Conference in Bellevue, Washington, and she was making the rounds, asking the typical rogues’ gallery of authors (most of whom were my friends) if they wanted to write a book. She didn’t have much luck, as many of them were busy at the time with other projects. She then comes to speak with me.
I remember what happened next as if it happened yesterday.
I didn’t know her at the time. She sees me in the hallway, introduces herself and says, “I hear you have a book to write.” That seemed like an odd thing to say, so I asked her what she meant by that statement. “Well, I’ve talked to John and Roger and Armen and Michael and Ken and Paul and Chris and Matt, and they’re all too busy to write anything new this year. However, to a person, they all made one point: Go talk to Mike Hernandez! He keeps complaining that there are no simple, straightforward books on database design. Well, as most of us know, he’s become quite an expert at it. So, tell him to stop complaining and put up or shut up—tell him to write the damn book himself!”
Kathleen and I then meet for lunch the next day to discuss my ideas for such a book. By the time our three-hour lunch meeting was over, we were making plans to get the contracts set up so that I could start on the book right away. That was the origin of Database Design for Mere Mortals®.
I also acknowledge and thank John Fuller and his staff (again) for the awesome work they did on that edition; my review team, Jim Booth and Christopher Webber; and the people who had an early, positive influence on my database career: Karen Watterson, Mike Johnson, Karl Fischer, Paul Litwin, John Viescas, Ken Getz, and Gregory Piercy.
I want to extend a very special thanks to my longtime friend, colleague, and well-respected expert, Ken Getz, who graciously agreed to write the Foreword for the first three editions of the book. From what I understand, Ken is now pursuing a life of peace, happiness, and serenity somewhere in California. He’s happily playing music now, which is a passion we both share.
A special thanks also goes to all those readers who took the time over the years to send me emails from time to time and post their reviews and comments on Amazon. I am humbled by their praise and support and particularly appreciative of the good, constructive criticism that eventually helped me to improve the material throughout its evolution. I also want to thank all the academic institutions, government agencies, and commercial organizations that have adopted my book and made it “standard reading” over the past 25 years. I am honored by their support of my work.
I want to take a moment to honor the memory of my very dear friend and mentor, Alastair Black, who passed away a number of years ago. He was the one who taught me the craft of writing, of what it means to be a good writer. I am forever indebted to him for what he taught me, and I hope everything I’ve written since our time together has been a credit to his memory.
Finally, I want to thank my wife for her unending patience while I was enmeshed in writing each edition of the book. Her unending help and support have always been invaluable, and yet again, I owe her a great debt. I would tell you exactly how I feel about her, but she abhors any sort of PDA (public display of affection).
Instead, I’ll just extend her a laurel, and hardy handshake.