-- explain1.txt

EXPLAIN
 SELECT * FROM person;

+----+-------------+--------+------+---------------+------+---------+------+------+-------+
| id | select_type | table  | type | possible_keys | key  | key_len | ref  | rows | Extra |
+----+-------------+--------+------+---------------+------+---------+------+------+-------+
|  1 | SIMPLE      | person | ALL  | NULL          | NULL | NULL    | NULL | 1271 |       |
+----+-------------+--------+------+---------------+------+---------+------+------+-------+

No key is used - the results require a full scan of the table (we want everything), so sequential access is probably fastest.