i havnt used sql in a long time and now my job requires it. il be using it in access, maby oricle and maby sql server. i need a book that teaches general sql. all about updates, deletes,dates, joins, corrrelates sub queries, aliases,and anything else i could encounter that will cause me to pull my hair out in sql.maby even it it went into TSQL that would be useful.any recommendations???

Did you visit Amazon.com, for example? Search through "books" and use keyword "SQL" (as you don't know which one you'll use). Check readers' reviews - could be helpful.

The SQL Bible is probably good. I heard it will blow your mind what all it has. I may pick up both the one for Access and SQL. The books titled "The complete reference book of ____" are also good i heard

I prefer:

Transact-SQL:
The Guru's Guide to Transact SQL and XML (or something like that) by Ken Henderson
Teach Yourself Transact-SQL in 21 Days by Sam's (believe it or not)

Architecture:
Inside SQL Server by Kalen Delaney (it's the best out there)

Performance Tuning:
SQL Server 2000 Performance Tuning Manual by Microsoft Press

Each SQL implementation is different. Of the three you've listed, there is a wide variety of syntax supported. MS-SQL implementes full SQL-92. Jet (the engine used by MS-Access) implements a large subset of SQL-87 with a lot of the SQL-92 features grafted on in peculiar ways. Oracle supports most of the features of SQL-92, but using Oracle's non-standard syntax.

I don't know of any one book that covers all of the possible SQL-like variations. I like Derrick's suggestions for MS-SQL. If you are looking for a very generic SQL overview, I'd suggest SQL for Dummies. If you want quality background that will help you understand how you should use SQL (but not get far into any particular implementation), I'd recommend Joe Celko's SQL For Smarties.

In short, I don't think exactly what you want can exist, but there are lots of choices that might be "good enough" for what you really want... You just have to pick the one that seems the closest to what you think you'll need and go from there.

-PatP