Editor's top Power BI books
2The Definitive Guide to DAX
Marco Russo, Alberto Ferrari · Microsoft Press · 1279 pages · ~32 hrs to read
The authoritative DAX reference — co-authored by the creators of SQLBI, the most respected independent Power BI resource. Covers filter context, evaluation order, time intelligence, and advanced patterns. Essential for serious Power BI practitioners.
Analyzing Data with Power BI and Power Pivot for Excel
Alberto Ferrari & Marco Russo · Microsoft Press
Written by the SQLBI founders — the same team behind The Definitive Guide to DAX — this focuses specifically on building the tabular data model correctly before writing any DAX. The clearest explanation available of star schema modeling as it applies to Power BI's engine.
Power BI Books for Beginners
3Beginning Microsoft Power BI
Dan Clark · Apress · 417 pages · ~10 hrs to read
Clear, step-by-step introduction to Power BI Desktop — covers data loading, Power Query, relationships, DAX basics, and report publishing. Good for analysts new to the Microsoft BI stack.
Analyzing Data with Power BI and Power Pivot for Excel
Alberto Ferrari & Marco Russo · Microsoft Press
Written by the SQLBI founders — the same team behind The Definitive Guide to DAX — this focuses specifically on building the tabular data model correctly before writing any DAX. The clearest explanation available of star schema modeling as it applies to Power BI's engine.
Learn Microsoft Power BI, 3rd Edition
Greg Deckler · Packt · 469 pages · ~12 hrs to read
A current, step-by-step beginner's guide from a 7-time Microsoft MVP, updated for the latest Power BI Desktop and Fabric integration.
Intermediate & Advanced Power BI Books
6The Definitive Guide to DAX
Marco Russo, Alberto Ferrari · Microsoft Press · 1279 pages · ~32 hrs to read
The authoritative DAX reference — co-authored by the creators of SQLBI, the most respected independent Power BI resource. Covers filter context, evaluation order, time intelligence, and advanced patterns. Essential for serious Power BI practitioners.
Mastering Microsoft Power BI, 2nd Edition
Greg Deckler & Brett Powell · Packt · 712 pages · ~18 hrs to read
Covers the advanced end of Power BI — enterprise data modeling, DAX performance patterns, and deployment pipelines — written by two long-time Power BI MVPs. The natural next step once Beginning Power BI stops being enough.
M Is for (Data) Monkey
Ken Puls & Miguel Escobar0
Power BI's Power Query editor generates M code under the hood, and most analysts never learn to write or read it directly. This is the standard reference for the M language itself, unlocking transformations the click-based UI can't express.
Supercharge Power BI
Matt Allington0
Written by a Microsoft Data Platform MVP, this is a gentler on-ramp into DAX than Ferrari and Russo's Definitive Guide — good for analysts who've built a few reports and need a structured push toward writing their own measures.
Microsoft Power BI Cookbook
Greg Deckler & Brett Powell · Packt · 655 pages · ~16 hrs to read
Recipe-format coverage of end-to-end BI solutions — data modeling, DAX, Microsoft Fabric integration, and scorecards — useful once you know Power BI basics and need a specific pattern solved quickly.
Extending Power BI with Python and R
Luca Zavarella · Packt · 559 pages · ~14 hrs to read
Covers using Python and R scripts inside Power BI for data ingestion, statistical transformations, and visualizations beyond native Power BI visuals — the right book for analysts moving into applied data science within the same tool.