about this book
We didn’t want to write a reference book (that’s what the docs are for), but rather, to share the excitement and joy we experienced when working with DuckDB so that you’ll learn something new on every page, while having the same fun we had when writing. The book is fast-paced, information-rich, hands-on, and informative, with easy-to-understand and practical examples.
Who should read this book
The ideal reader for this book is a data engineer, data scientist, or developer who is interested in analyzing existing structured data efficiently without having to set up infrastructure. They should be familiar and comfortable with command-line tools and preferably some Python. We will cover a lot of SQL, starting with simple clauses and working our way toward advanced, analytical statements. DuckDB is available on all major operating systems and does not require any installation process; downloading and running the executable is enough. Our chapter on MotherDuck, the serverless analytic platform, requires creating an account if you want to try it out.