Paul DuBois (1)

This is the book that I used when I passed my MySQL certification back in 2007.

Excellent introduction to MySQL. Has most of the stuff you need and everything is explained in a very plain language. My only gripe is that a lot of space is dedicated to interfacing with MySQL through PHP and Perl (and C) but not a word about Java, which I think is at least as important, judging by the current MySQL usage by programmers. It is an updated 2013 edition.

Highly recommended if you work with MySQL databases and want to go beyond the basics.

This is old now but it is one of the best technical reference books I ever read. It has some of the best introductions to perl and php that I have ever seen, and they are not the main topic of the book. Chapters are concise and yet manage to explain things from the ground up.