Why is this just another big fat book? Page margins are about an inch and a half all around. The font is bigger than my two year old son's readers. A big cardboard flap holds two compact disks, one in the middle of the book and one at the end, that guarantees the book will never lay flat even after ripping them out. The CD's hold nearly useless timed evaluation copies of software that requires far more time to master. The pages are heavy bond, arguably to make the book fat as fat spines stand out on the shelf. The book covers a good deal of topics, but with less than 1000 words dedicated to any given one. Typos abound. The spellchecker calls the i386 architecture the 1386 (one three eight six) architecture in a half-dozen places.

The audience this book is aimed at might appreciate a light introduction without getting caught up details, so I'm giving it a three star. Like other reviews said, strictly beginner and in no way authoritative on any given topic. You'll need to make another purchase if you're looking to scratch the surface of SQL Server 2000.