I rarely read a technical book from cover to cover. This book rocks. This is like an instruction manual on Hibernate. Just stuff with no fluff that needs to get the job done. I am not a friend of the author nor a Java programmer to begin with. I am a C#, VB, and SQL Server DBA who got a new position to do Java and Hibernate. Freaked out! So I was trying to find something that would get me going for the new job.

This book has not disappointed me except one bit. OK. Just one bit. That's chapter 16 on Mapping Inheritance when the author gave no complete code listings on Ancestor, Parent, and Child like he did to other codes. Also he failed to mention that Hibernate won't know how clean the database tables correctly when index is involved. It took me three days and numerous googl searches. No answer from anywhere. I couldn't get pass the InheritanceType.TABLE_PER_CLASS. I thought I was up to grab that $[...] challenge from the author.

I woke up the 4th day and I finally figured out that I had to manually delete those tables (or the entire schema) for Hibernate Configuration to recreate tables correctly. Had the author mention the possible cause of failing the drop of tables, I could have saved the past 3 struggling days.

Am I still entitle for that $[...] bill?

Really. This is not the RTFM type of book. It worked for me and helped me with a good start at my new job. I felt a little violated after spending $[...] bucks on a book from a no name publisher. But that little bit of investment for a .NET programmer proves everybit worthy.

Can you write a book on Spring just like what you have done with Hibernate, please?

The book is true to its title, it does make learning Hibernate easy. The book walks you through the process of installing Hibernate and the prerequisite software (JDK, database and JDBC drivers) and then very quickly gets you going on example programs. (I used Derby as the database, the book recommends MySQL.) Each chapter is very short and to the point. The book can be read cover-to-cover in one week, including doing the example programs.

Although I am a professional programmer with Java experience, I had no experience with Hibernate. This book served as great introduction, but like a good comedian, left me wanting more. If you already have some experience with Hibernate, then you are probably beyond this book. If, like me, you wanted an easy introduction, then the book is well suited. When the time comes that I have to use Hibernate for work assignments, there is a good chance that I'll purchase a more in depth Hibernate book.

I'm giving 4 stars for a book that is true to its title, but somewhat pricey for an intro-type book. Also, don't be surprised to find a few typos, but they don't detract from the message.

The concepts in the book are so simple that it could be written on 50 pages or less, instead of on 420 pages. As I read it I skipped over repetitive snippets and descriptions.
I really don't know who could give this book 5 stars? Maybe the friends of the author ?

A book that really makes learning hibernate easy and funny.
It tells you what you really have to know to start developing without being
annoyed by technical not important stuff.
One of the best books for beginners I've ever read.

Highly recommended for getting started with hibernate. Takes you through all of the basic without swamping with too much detail. It has a tight focus on Hibernate, it doesn't have chapters on using ANT, Maven or obscure databases.

I would also recommend getting Java Persistence with Hibernate for a more detailed discussion on many of the topics presented in the book. However do start with Hibernate Made Easy. I tried to read JPWH first and it has an overwhelming amount of information, covering all the nooks and crannies. After reading HME it is much easier to know what you are looking for and hunt down the appropriate information.

Cameron also readily answers emails sent to him regarding questions about the book.

There were a couple of points that I wasn't too sure on, such as if the HibernateUtil class presented in the book is thread safe, but on the whole very good introduction.

Of course, it only covers using annotations, if you are interested in using mapping files, look at Harnessing Hibernate.

I like everything but paper size and quality is not worth $50. Other publisher provide excellent quality for such price and bigger font size (not talking about source code font size). Also where is source code www.hiberbook.com didn't find like or did I miss it..

But bottom line excellent book for how to use annotation with hibernate and get away from monolithic XML files...

Great book that does what it says - helps you get ramped up on hibernate from installation, through samples to production.

I love this book. I wish all technical books were written this way.

A few months ago, I had a job interview and they asked me if I knew Hibernate. I told them that I didn't know it, but I could learn it. So they gave me a little sample database problem - they wanted me to build a one-to-many, bi-directional join - and asked me to spend the weekend reading tutorials on the web and see if I could get something up and running by Monday morning. So I hit it hard. I read everything I could find, just trying to get something that worked. But I wasnt able to get it working, so I didnt get the job. But I still wanted to learn Hibernate, so I bought the book "Java Persistence with Hibernate" that everybody raves about. That book was not good for me. It seemed ponderous. It has all sorts of references to JSR white papers and stuff like that. I dont care about white papers. I just wanted to find something that would help me figure out how to get my project running. I read 500 pages of that book, and I still felt confused.

So then I bought Hibernate Made Easy, and I LOVE it! It starts out with some very simple examples, so you get something working and you start to gain confidence. The first chapter is about how to set up Hibernate, and the second chapter is about testing your setup. Then he starts off with some very simple code that saves a record to the database. And then gradually he increases the complexity of the problems and the solutions until by the end of the book you're ready to solve real world problems. It's great. It's very logical and straightforward, and surprisingly, it's also fun to read. I mean, this is a book about Java persistence, but it's fun to read. How did he do that?

After I finished reading this book, I went back and tried to do the job interview exercise again to see if I had learned anything and guess what? I was able to finish it in only 75 minutes. It only took me 75 minutes to do something that I had spent about 48 hours trying to do before. Man... I wish I had read this book earlier.

This book is thorough, easy to read, light-hearted, and it tackles all the difficult topics in a logical, step-by-step way. I think it's an outstanding book. After reading it I feel prepared to tackle my next interview. I feel like I can confidently say "I know Hibernate."

This book is a great introduction to Hibernate and all the code really works. The examples are pretty good and the author builds upto a simple set of classes which illustrate all the mapping concepts. I had avoided working with Annotations and Hibernate before but I found them easy to work with and understand.
The chapters on Mappings and How Hibernate Works are very good. Keep a copy of Java Persistence with Hibernate to supplement some of the concepts. This book is meant to be an introduction so does not cover advanced topics like transactions, caching and optimization.

This book really got me started on Hibernate. Before I bought this book, I bought Java Persistence with Hibernate book. Soon, I realized that Java Persistence with Hibernate book was not a good introductory and tutorial book. So I decided to try the Hibernate Made Easy by Cameron. After reading Hibernate Made Easy, I have a good understanding of Hibernate and I am ready to move on to more advanced topics. I gave five stars to this book for the following reasons.
1. The book was written in simple, clear and concise manner. It is easy to understand and absorb.
2. The code examples in the book works.
3. The book uses a simple development and deployment environment so that I did not have to download a tons of software to get the examples working.
4. The examples use mySQL database instead of HSQLDB like in other Hibernate books. So it is more practical.
5. This book is not just about learning Hibernate. It is also about how to apply this technology properly. The author included tutorials on how to design the persistent layer using Data Access Object and Factory design patterns.
6. This book has web application examples using JSP and Hibernate running on Tomcat. These examples are very simple yet very poweful. They get to the point.
7. Finally, about the author. Cameron loves to hear from the reader. He accepts the reader's comments and he shares his ideas freely with the reader.

Awesome book/guide/primer - but make no mistake in thinking that this book is a just a primer. It covers a lot of topics and is written in a very easy, reader-friendly and intuitive fashion. Most (pretty much all) of the code is error-free and is very easy to understand (This is useful very much especially for Newbies). BEST/PERFECT book to learn Hibernate. If you are a newbie, look no further - this is THE book to learn Hibernate. A++. Shining Five stars for this book. I hope the author of this book (Cameron McKenzie) publishes more technical books like this is in future. (If there is something like a "Made Easy" series with books like this from this author, I guess it would be at least equivalent or greater than "Head First" series). What more - find a bug in the code and win $100! (I am desperately trying to find a bug in the code to buy good earbuds for my ipod - looks like it is not going to happen..)

The perfect book for learning Hibernate. Reads like a Head First Book, but with attitude.

This book is a must have.

My personal project has just gotten to the stage where i have to manage persistence. Since its a fresh project, i have decided to use the latest technology trends so i had been reading and reading tutorials on the net. then i thought i needed a book to help me.

i read the reviews on this book and decided to buy it. For me the Title was very assuring given that it doesnt sound over promising as some do

And I'm very happy I bought it. Reading the preface made me laugh throughout. Before i realised, i had fully read the preamble for the first time ever, even thogh the author kept telling me there was no need to read it...lol

If you are looking to do anything with JPA or Hibernate, dont waste time. just buy it

Even if its not good, you can take him on and try to find a bug in the code in the book, which he is betting a $100 dollars on

I've had this book for 2 days and I'm already at chapter 4. All I have to say is this is THE book to get if you want to learn Hibernate from scratch. Believe me, you will not hibernate when reading this book. Writing style is very clear and easy to understand. This book reminds me of the Murach series books, but much better. I also love the fact that the examples don't force you to use other miscellaneous helper tools (Ant, JUnit, etc) to get the examples working. The author apologizes for not using those tools at first, but I think this is a good thing. Had he made us use those tools, it would have complicated the learning process, not to mention having to learn how to use those tools. Don't get me wrong, eventually you should learn those tools for large projects.

The only thing I wish the book would cover more is how to use Hibernate with servlets or JSPs or other web front end technologies since now a days people want to learn how to make Hibernate work with their web applications. But I understand wholeheartedly why the author didn't do a more deeper coverage. Perhaps he should for his next book (hint...hint).

I also found some minor mistakes or omissions, not in the code, but in some of the explanations. For example, reference to where the library zip files are located (page 50) is incorrect and to get Log4j to work, the author should have explicitly stated where the log4j.properties file needs to be saved(page 97). He explicitly states where the other files need to be saved, but for some reason, he made an exception for the log4j properties file. I had to use trial and error to figure that out (needs to be in the c:\_mycode directory). Sorry the only reason I'm mentioning these mistakes here is because the book's website at the time of this review doesn't appear to have a link to see/send errata and download sample code.

I look forward reading the book to the very last page. So far so good! Without hesitation, I highly recommend this book.

This book is actually pretty entertaining, for a computer book that is.

I wish this was my first book on Hibernate, as it would have made learning it alot easier. The book pretty much delivers on its promise to make learning Hibernate and the basics of JPA easy.

My only misgiving is that at times the book sometimes glosses over some of the more intricate parts of database programming. For example, there is very little on the X/Open XA architecture, which is important to understand when implementing JTA or even transactions with things like JNDI or CORBA applications. Advanced topics like that really aren't addressed in the book.

Otherwise, it's a good book.

This is a five star learing guide for people getting into the latest edition of Hibernate. Far and away the best book on the market on Hibernate, and I've used all of them.

Totally required and recommended.

This is the way technical books should be written. Period.

The book is clear, concise, respectful of the reader, and full of error free code (mostly on the odd pages of the book.) The author begins the explanations with the most important central items and then works out toward the peripheral material in a logical manner.


Keep on writing! That Tim Hortons coffee must have something special in it ;-)

Struggling with the various other resources on the market, I got a free, promo copy of this book before it was officially released. I guess you could consider me a 'guinea pig' for the first edition. I just want to say that this book really delivers on its promise to make Hibernate easy to learn.

Working with any persistence mechanism, be it Hibernate, JDO or EJBs or Toplink or whatever can be a struggle. However, this book really takes the edge off. It starts off with the basics, showing you how to configure a simple development environment, and it then moves on with simple examples that allow you to build confidence in your Hibernate skills.

Once the book helps you understand how Hibernate really works, it moves onto more advanced mappings of associations and inheritance. These can be tricky subjects, but their explained in a very simple and friendly manner that just makes sense. It's a great reference to fall back on as well. If you ever need to know how to map a many to one, or many to many relationship, there are simple, working examples that will show you how, and point out the common pitfalls.

And while the book makes Hibernate easy to learn, what it teaches isn't insignificant. As I said, I was struggling to catch up with the rest of my team on the Hibernate part. But after reading this book, I noticed people on the team were coming to me with their questions, and I was answering them! That's got to tell you something.

I have a bunch of Hibernate books on my desk, including Data Persistence with Hibernate (the big book), and they all have their use, but this is the book that I keep coming back to. It covers a huge amount of material, but does it in a way that allows you to turn to any given page and pick up the concept quickly.

I'm glad I got a copy of this book early, as it really helped me out. I'm sure it will help you out too.