Itzik Ben-gan T-sql Fundamentals -

The book aligns perfectly with:

The defining feature of Ben-Gan’s approach is moving developers away from procedural logic (using loops and cursors) and toward set-based operations Relational Roots: Grounded in mathematical foundations to explain T-SQL behaves as it does. Logical Query Processing: itzik ben-gan t-sql fundamentals

You won't just learn how to write a SELECT statement; you’ll learn the logical processing order that SQL Server follows when executing it. The book aligns perfectly with: The defining feature