diff --git a/taskflow/persistence/backends/impl_sqlalchemy.py b/taskflow/persistence/backends/impl_sqlalchemy.py
index bcbadab1..a5ea6061 100644
--- a/taskflow/persistence/backends/impl_sqlalchemy.py
+++ b/taskflow/persistence/backends/impl_sqlalchemy.py
@@ -96,6 +96,17 @@ POSTGRES_GONE_WAY_AWAY_ERRORS = (
 # These connection urls mean sqlite is being used as an in-memory DB.
 SQLITE_IN_MEMORY = ('sqlite://', 'sqlite:///', 'sqlite:///:memory:')
 
+# Transacation isolation levels that will be automatically applied, we prefer
+# strong read committed isolation levels to avoid merging and using dirty
+# data...
+#
+# See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isolation_(database_systems)
+DEFAULT_TXN_ISOLATION_LEVELS = {
+    'mysql': 'READ COMMITTED',
+    'postgresql': 'READ COMMITTED',
+    'postgres': 'READ COMMITTED',
+}
+
 
 def _in_any(reason, err_haystack):
     """Checks if any elements of the haystack are in the given reason."""
@@ -194,6 +205,24 @@ class SQLAlchemyBackend(base.Backend):
                                     ('pool_timeout', 'pool_timeout')]:
                 if lookup_key in conf:
                     engine_args[k] = misc.as_int(conf.pop(lookup_key))
+        if 'isolation_level' not in conf:
+            # Check driver name exact matches first, then try driver name
+            # partial matches...
+            txn_isolation_levels = conf.pop('isolation_levels',
+                                            DEFAULT_TXN_ISOLATION_LEVELS)
+            level_applied = False
+            for (driver, level) in six.iteritems(txn_isolation_levels):
+                if driver == e_url.drivername:
+                    engine_args['isolation_level'] = level
+                    level_applied = True
+                    break
+            if not level_applied:
+                for (driver, level) in six.iteritems(txn_isolation_levels):
+                    if e_url.drivername.find(driver) != -1:
+                        engine_args['isolation_level'] = level
+                        break
+        else:
+            engine_args['isolation_level'] = conf.pop('isolation_level')
         # If the configuration dict specifies any additional engine args
         # or engine arg overrides make sure we merge them in.
         engine_args.update(conf.pop('engine_args', {}))
@@ -395,11 +424,6 @@ class Connection(base.Connection):
     def _save_logbook(self, session, lb):
         try:
             lb_m = _logbook_get_model(lb.uuid, session=session)
-            # NOTE(harlowja): Merge them (note that this doesn't provide
-            # 100% correct update semantics due to how databases have
-            # MVCC). This is where a stored procedure or a better backing
-            # store would handle this better by allowing this merge logic
-            # to exist in the database itself.
             lb_m = _logbook_merge(lb_m, lb)
         except exc.NotFound:
             lb_m = _convert_lb_to_internal(lb)