My first Chinese book

Posted by on Saturday, June 1, 2019

My first Chinese book has been published on 1st June.

This book is the translated version of my document: The internals of PostgreSQL.

I cannot read Chinese, but I am very glad.

I show the preface of this book below.

Preface

Hello, PostgreSQL users in China!

This book explains the internal workings of PostgreSQL in detail for database administrators and system developers. Although understanding of its internal mechanism is difficult, this book will help you learn and master PostgreSQL.

I am really glad that this book is published in Chinese. I will explain the reasons why I think this.

First, this is the first book I have ever translated. Needless to say, it is always pleasing when one of my books is published. Moreover, having one of my works translated into a foreign language is a very exciting thing.

Second, I have been receiving many emails requesting translations of this book into foreign languages from around the world. Actually, at least half of the emails are from China. Many emails tell me that “this book is necessary for Chinese PostgreSQL users”. Therefore, I am pleased to finally respond to their requests.

And the most important reason relates to my family history. My late father, who passed away many years ago, lived in Harbin, China for a few years. After that, he returned to Japan and I was born. He had been suffering from heart disease for a long time, therefore, he was always in a bad mood and I do not have good memories of him except one, which I will explain below.

When I was a child, my father told stories about his experiences in China to me and my younger sister before we went to bed every night. When talking, he always looked very happy and said often that the Chinese people helped him.

His stories impressed me and certainly affected my life. Because I heard his stories, I grew up with a strong sense of curiosity about the world and the unknown, and my curiosity also pushed me to learn software engineering. And now, I have published my first book in China. In short, this is a story of a pay-it-forward chain which involving a Japanese family and China.

I am very happy that I could finally return the favor to the Chinese people. Of course, this book is a very small gift, however, I would like to dedicate it to you with my gratitude.

In 2017, I had an opportunity to go to China and could directly see that China is surprisingly developed. It was a very impressive experience for me. I hope to go to China again, and also I would like to work in China if I have an opportunity.

Anyway, let’s enjoy PostgreSQL!