data storage and management

I found MG exceedingly readable, and particularly useful. The ideas are very well explained, and the problems are solved in a stepwise fashion, leading from a simple, inefficient solution to a problem to a more complex, efficient one. Where appropriate, pseudocode is included to communicate the algorithms unambiguously. I use the free MG software in my research on information retrieval, and this book is an indispensible supplement to the software. The ideas on compression and efficiency described in the book and implemented in the software are the best that I know of in the public domain, and I've looked!

MG gave a good introduction to the components of practical Information Retrieval (IR). You can clearly see that the authors have a genuine interest in the field! But, I would like some more theoretical analysis of the algorithms used(i.e. O-notation), and more focus on parallell implementations of IR systems. Another book related to the same area worth mentioning is "Modern Information Retrieval".

Managing Gigabytes is the best book out there on information retrieval. If you're interested in implementing your own IR system, there's nothing available that comes close to this book. But the book is good not just because it's the only one out there: the writing is excellent, the algorithms are presented clearly and explained well, and the coverage is thorough. Additionally, the coverage of compression algorithms is the best I've found in any book. All algorithms and pseudo-code in the book are presented clearly enough such that any competent programmer should be able to implement them. If all else fails, however, the free downloadable source code for the mg system can fill in any gaps.

All in all, this is the best computer science book I've purchased in years. I wish all CS books were written like this one: it doesn't skimp on the theory or on the implementation details.