Yet using references is exactly how we model our data in a relational database! Each invoice is stored in a table as a row that refers to other rows in other tables one row for seller information, one for the buyer, one row for each item billed, and more rows still to describe the item details, manufacturer details, and so on and so forth.
This isn’t meant as a detraction of the relational model, which is widely applicable and extremely useful for a number of reasons. Hopefully, though, it illustrates the point that sometimes your model may not “fit” your data in the way it occurs in the real world.
Let’s take a look at the humble contact database to illustrate a different way of modeling data, one that more closely “fits” its real-world counterpart – a pile of business cards. Much like our invoice example, a business card contains all the important information, right there on the cardstock. We call this “self-contained” data, and it’s an important concept in understanding document databases like CouchDB.