PostgreSQL dominates the open-source database space for a reason: it handles everything from a single-server blog backend to multi-terabyte analytics workloads. But the documentation, while thorough, is not a learning path. These books fill that gap with structured coverage of administration, performance tuning, and development patterns.
All titles below are current, in print, and cover PostgreSQL 16 or 17. Older editions targeting PostgreSQL 12 or 13 have been removed.
Last reviewed: March 2026. All links and availability verified.
Mastering PostgreSQL 17, 6th Edition
Hans-Jurgen Schonig has been updating this book with every major PostgreSQL release, and the sixth edition covers PostgreSQL 17. Topics include advanced query planning, indexing strategies (GIN, GiST, BRIN), table partitioning, replication, and performance tuning. Schonig is a PostgreSQL consultant with decades of production experience, and it shows in the depth of the optimization chapters.
- Author: Hans-Jurgen Schonig
- Published: December 2024 (Packt, 6th Edition)
- Covers: PostgreSQL 17
- Best for: DBAs and developers who want deep optimization knowledge
- Amazon: Buy on Amazon
PostgreSQL 16 Administration Cookbook
180+ practical recipes covering real-world DBA challenges: backup and recovery, replication, monitoring, security, and performance diagnostics. The recipe format means you can jump straight to the problem you are facing without reading front to back. Authored by a team that includes Simon Riggs (a PostgreSQL major contributor) and Gianni Ciolli.
Rated 4.1 stars. One version behind (PostgreSQL 16), but the administration patterns are still directly applicable to PostgreSQL 17.
- Authors: Gianni Ciolli, Boriss Mejias, Jimmy Angelakos, Vibhor Kumar, Simon Riggs
- Published: December 2023 (Packt)
- Covers: PostgreSQL 16
- Best for: Working DBAs who need quick answers to specific problems
- Amazon: Buy on Amazon
Learn PostgreSQL, 2nd Edition
Luca Ferrari and Enrico Pirozzi wrote this as the book they wished existed when they started with PostgreSQL. It covers database creation, user management, querying, indexing, security, and administration in a progressive structure that works for both beginners and intermediate users. Rated 4.5 stars with strong reviews praising the clarity of explanation.
- Authors: Luca Ferrari, Enrico Pirozzi
- Published: 2023 (Packt, 2nd Edition)
- Covers: PostgreSQL 16
- Rating: 4.5 stars
- Best for: Beginners and intermediate users
- Amazon: Buy on Amazon
PostgreSQL DBA (v17, v16, v15, v14, v13), 2nd Edition
Tony CL Chan’s DBA guide is one of the few books explicitly targeting PostgreSQL 17. It covers high availability, security hardening, OLTP and OLAP performance tuning, and practical DBA workflows across multiple PostgreSQL versions. Comes with a GitHub repository of supplemental materials. Good for DBAs who manage clusters running different PostgreSQL versions.
- Author: Tony CL Chan
- Published: 2025 (2nd Edition)
- Covers: PostgreSQL 13 through 17
- Best for: DBAs managing multiple PostgreSQL versions
- Amazon: Buy on Amazon
Quick comparison
| Goal | Book | PG Version |
|---|---|---|
| Deep optimization and tuning | Mastering PostgreSQL 17 | 17 |
| Quick recipe-based answers | PostgreSQL 16 Administration Cookbook | 16 |
| Learning PostgreSQL from scratch | Learn PostgreSQL, 2nd Ed | 16 |
| Multi-version DBA reference | PostgreSQL DBA, 2nd Ed | 13-17 |
Start with Learn PostgreSQL if you are new to the database. Move to the Administration Cookbook when you need production recipes, and pick up Mastering PostgreSQL 17 when you are ready to squeeze every last millisecond out of your queries.
For a hands-on install walkthrough, see our guide on installing PostgreSQL 17 on Rocky Linux 10 / AlmaLinux 10.
