A project that I worked on a while back is finally coming to fruition, and it is one of the coolest around.  Usually when I see a book that has 5+ authors, I am a bit concerned about quality.  In this case however, there are 53 authors and even if the quality was not all that great (which it will be excellent, by the way), the proceeds will be going to a good charity (WarChild.org).

At last year’s MVP Summit, the annual gathering of people with too much free time on their hands and a desire to help out other Microsoft using technologists with that free time, Bill Gates offered us a challenge to “do philanthropy where you are.”  So an idea was hatched that we would all write a book and give the proceeds to charity.

In the end 53 MVPs, largely from the SQL Server community (but not all) participated and produced a book that covers a lot of ground. Paul Nielsen and I wrote the first chapter called “Louis and Paul’s 10 relational database design rules” based on our 24 Hours of PASS presentation, and I wrote the second chapter entitled “SQL Server tools for maintaining data integrity”. Then a lot of people wrote 57 other chapters on topics from design, development, administration, tuning, and even BI development.

This is an all-volunteer book. All author proceeds are going to WarChild.org – an organization that helps children traumatized by war. Because this is a book for charity, Manning Publications wanted to also donate and gave us a higher than normal royalty. In addition, if you purchase the book through this link: www.SQLServerMVPDeepDives.com then the purchase will also count toward Warchild’s Manning affiliate account and Warchild will receive an extra 10% of the purchase.

As an additional bonus, you can save 50%: purchase from the website by the end of Sept (that is the day after I am posting this, so HURRY!) and use the code pop0928 at the checkout

If you’re going to PASS: The first printed copies will be shipped directly to the PASS Summit Bookstore. We’re planning an official book launch at PASS. If you want to get your copy signed by every author at PASS then you must purchase a copy at the PASS Bookstore.

And hey, if you get a copy and want to have it signed the slow way, one author at a time as you bump into us on the street, I will be happy to sign one any time. For the rest you will have to do some world travelling as the authors come from the whole world around.  And some of them are always travelling to boot.  So good luck and thanks for making this a success!