A project roughly a year in the making, the SQL Server MVP Deep Dives title will very soon be available as an eBook and as a pre-order for the physical book.  A collection of over 50 chapters from a slew of SQL Server MVPs, on topics ranging from XQuery to Replication to PowerShell to Table-Valued Parameters to Dependencies… and the list goes on.  In addition to reviewing several chapters in the book, I also had two chapters myself ("My Favorite DMVs and Why" and "SQL Server Audit, Change Data Capture and Change Tracking").  You will be able to download a copy of the book starting as early as tomorrow (possibly Friday) at the Manning web site; I will update with a link here when it is made available.

You can pre-order the physical book now from the other retailers (Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders, buy.com, or your favorite retailer under ISBN 1935182048 / 9781935182047), but these don't give you access to the digital copy.  And they also obviously don't offer an option to *only* get the digital book, which surely is an attractive option for some… both because it is cheaper and because the physical book is not expected to ship until November or December.

What's interesting about this book does not end with the wide variety of contributors, writing styles, points of view, and content areas.  Even more interesting is that none of the authors receive any compensation for their contributions: some of the proceeds are going to the charity War Child International (web | wikipedia).  This charity is described as "a network of independent organisations, working across the world to help children affected by war. War Child was founded upon a fundamental goal: to advance the cause of peace through investing hope in the lives of children caught up in the horrors of war."

The Deep Dives project was imagined and spearheaded by Paul Nielsen (of SQL Server Bible fame), and several MVPs helped organize and streamline the grueling process of both approving abstracts and then reviewing chapters: Kalen Delaney, Greg Low, Adam Machanic, Paul Randal, and Kimberly Tripp.

Happy reading!