5 comments about Easy Oracle PHP: Create Dynamic Web Pages with Oracle Data (Easy Oracle Series).

1. As the series editor for this book I was involved in Gogala's book, from initial inception to finished product, and I'm impressed. Oracle offers a wealth of different tools to create dynamic web pages (Apex (HTML-DB), Jdeveloper, Ruby on Rail on Oracle, etc.) and PHP is an excellent choice because it is powerful, mature and has well-tested Oracle interfaces.
   
   It's very difficult to take a complex topic such as Oracle with PHP and condense it into an understandable and concise framework, but Gogala has met this challenge.
   
   PHP is, by its very nature, a flexible and robust language, and I was happy to see that Gogala resisted the temptation to go into all of the advanced PHP features.
   
   This is not an advanced PHP Oracle book. Rather, it is a get-started guide with lots of simple, easy to understand examples, and working Oracle PHP code snippets in the code download to allow beginners to get started fast. Mladen spent hundreds of hours refining his text and working with Steve Karam, his technical editor, and I hope that you will agree that this is a great way to get started with Oracle databases on the web.



2. I am afraid that Donald Burleson's kudos for this book, for which he is the series editor, means that he did not read it. This book is riddled with typographical errors, in both the code and the text. The code examples that you download do not always match the corresponding example from the book, and in some cases, neither work. Also, be aware that only the `include' files are available for download. The examples from each chapter, which is the majority of code in the book, are not available. Save your money.



3. For those us who need to provide CIO's with an alternative to buying expensive Event Management Monitoring tools, Mladen's book provides the perfect blueprint to merging SQL scripts into web pages. They key here is easy dyamic web pages.
   
   Most of the the time, management wants to see results in easy to read Web formatting that easily displays the current state of systems: hence, expensive monitoring tools. Using PHP, one can write an effective but cheap portable monitoring solution by utilizing existing sql scripts within PHP. As such, this book has provided me an important opportunity to show cost conscience management a real working alternative to laying out $250k for monitoring tools.



4. Mladen did an excellent job bringing Oracle and PHP together in his book, Easy Oracle PHP. As a Sr. Oracle DBA and a long time PHP developer, I was honored to be a part of its release as a technical editor.
   
   Easy Oracle PHP contains many outstanding examples of the possible uses of these two powerful technologies. In addition, the book is easy to read and understand, despite both PHP and Oracle being potentially complex topics. The many examples and scripts in this book were well written by Mr. Gogala, and I personally tested each one. These step-by-step scripts make it easy for anyone, even beginners, to become well accommodated with the many uses of PHP; the scripts even give the developer the basis for a very handy Oracle database monitoring tool!
   
   A good knowledge of PHP has become something of an competitive edge in the development world. This book provides the methods by which anyone can learn to use it with the most powerful database software on the public market.



5. PHP isn't a magical solution to dynamic HTML, but it comes as close as anything is likely to. I've met Gogala at a few OUG meetings and he knows his stuff. If you aren't familiar with the topic read the book twice - first time leafing through to get an overview of the capabilities then a second drilling down. Time well spent. Throwing together a quick EIS dashboard using PHP is a great way to please the guys with the checkbooks. Like lighting a match in front of jungle natives, they'll bow down, cry "Great Juju!" and brag about it to other holders of unearned stock options at the golf club.

5 comments about OCP: Oracle 10g New Features for Administrators Study Guide: Exam 1Z0-040 (Certification Study Guide).

1. This book will definitely teach you the new features in 10g and prepare you for the exam. The material definitely covered the test areas well, although often there are mistakes in the text and questions. The online tests and flashcards are very useful and (good or bad) provide additional information that the book does not cover.
   
   After doing 9i using the Oracle Press books I believe I will continue with this series when the next release comes out.



2. After taking the exam three times using this book, I finally realized that the book was missing a lot of information that was on the actual exam. It is poorly written, and the examples are poorly illustrated. If you want to pass the exam on the first try, I do not recommend this book! The CD software that came bundled with this book did not reflect the questions on the actual exam(?) The authors of this book need to head back to the drawing board and start all over again. What a waste of time and money....



3. I passed my 10g OCP upgrade exam using this book, together with the 10g New Features book (Oracle Press), the 10g DBA Handbook (Oracle Press), the Oracle documentation, an actual 10g database (several in fact), the Self Help Software practice test and, just for fun, the PrepLogic Audio Training CDs. Having been an Oracle DBA for nearly 17 years, my motivation to take the OCP exams is not just to pass. It's to get as close to 100% as I can. That being the case, I am very careful with my studies and take my time working through every single subject area, frequently building actual working examples of the new features.
   
   Passing my 10g OCP upgrade exam had more to do with my thoroughness than it had to do with this book. I prefer to use a published study guide in conjunction with the Exam Topics published by Oracle. Starting with my 7.3 certification, I have always used the Oracle Press exam study guides, but decided to switch to this Sybex title due to the number of errors and pieces of misinformation I was finding in the Oracle Press books. However, I was appalled to find this title to be as bad, if not worse, than the Oracle Press 9i upgrade book.
   
   I accept that writing a technical (exam prep) book is a difficult undertaking, but there is absolutely no excuse for getting published syntax wrong. By way of example, p367 states the RMAN command to specify a duration for a backup is:
   
   RMAN> backup tablespace users duration 2:00;
   
   WRONG! Try it and you'll see the RMAN syntax error message. It is in fact:
   
   RMAN> backup duration 2:00 tablespace users;
   
   Chapter 4 Q11 asks about the main differences between COPY_FILE and PUT_FILE. The given answer includes the option which states PUT_FILE requires a destination server name. WRONG! It requires a database link to know how to connect to a destination server, but to say PUT_FILE itself "requires" a server name, i.e. as one of its parameters is clearly not true. A question in one of the bonus exams makes reference to a Resource Manager parameter called MAX_IDLE_BLOCK_TIME. WRONG! It's actually called MAX_IDLE_BLOCKER_TIME.
   
   Whilst on the subject of the tests found on the book's CD, I found several questions that were worded in a very obscure way or that asked for a level of extreme detail that was simply unrealistic. There were even questions where you had to choose 2 answers from 4, but the answer selection method was a radio button, not check boxes, so you could only choose one answer! Also many questions asked about subjects or aspects of subjects that were not covered in the book itself!
   
   Nit picking? I don't think so. These are important details and the further I got into this book, the less I trusted it. Second guessing what you read in a study guide is not ideal exam preparation. The icing on the cake was several questions on the actual exam which were not covered by any of my preparation materials, but that always happens and I like to think that's just Oracle's sense of humor! :-)
   
   Bottom line is, anyone giving this book maximum stars and high praise could not have read it carefully enough. Personally, I'll be switching back to the Oracle Press book for 11g unless another option presents itself. If you use this book as your primary study guide, be very careful and double check often with hands on practice and reference to the Oracle documentation.
   
   Good luck with your studies.



4. I used it to pass my DBA OCP exam. There are a few errors in the book, but that is to be expected. You have to learn everything to be prepared for the exam. It is also wise to get a second book so you can track omissions in this books by answering all the questions and sample exams in the other book.



5. I've used Sybex's study guides for my 9i OCP qual and found them to be ok. As a DBA working closely with 9i and 10g databases, I assumed this 10g New Features guide would round out my practical experience and help me pass this exam first time. Turns out that I was wrong. This book contains more errors than it should, is contradictory or ambiguous in places, and is not comprehensive enough to pass the exam - although you might get lucky I guess (I was short by 1 question, but luck shouldn't play a part in certification!). To be fair to the book, I also think that some of the questions in the exam itself are needlessly ambiguous and obfuscating, so I'm disappointed with Oracle too! I have copies of Sybex's DBA I and II guides, which will possibly be helpful on my resit.

5 comments about The Silicon Boys: And Their Valley of Dreams.

1. The non-fiction book The Silicon Boys and Their Valley of Dreams is written by David A. Kaplan. It is about how Silicon Valley started and why it is important to be near all the silicon in California. Also it explains who invented and invents the processors and software. It talks about Intel, then Apple and Microsoft, after that Oracle, then Kleiner Perkins, Mozilla, Microsoft, and finally Yahoo.

   David A. Kaplan used many correct facts and you can see who his sources are in the back of the book. It is organized chronologically starting at the early `70s when "The Traitorous Eight" first started developing processors. It concludes in 1999 when Microsoft was developing Internet Explorer and Yahoo was popular. Each chapter talks about a company or person or both.

   I think it was a very good book. It told me a lot about the computer industry and the people behind it. If you don't care much about computers you shouldn't read this book but if you even have a slight interest, you'd like this book. The author did a very good job explaning the aspects of the computer industry, so even if you don't know much about computers you can understand this book.




2. This was one of the best Silly Valley stories I've read yet. Kaplan does a very good job offering a historical and chronological storyline that educates the reader while holding interest. Hence an educational book that also happens to be very unique and authentic.



3. "The Silicon Boys and Their Valley of Dreams" is a well written description of Silicon Valley at it's peak. It describes the culture of the valley during the nineties. It is an interesting peek into the a world of driven software developers and venture capitalists and everyone else in their galaxies. It focuses on companies and names we've all heard of: Apple, Oracle, Netscape, Microsoft, Intel, and many more. For anyone in the technology industry, this book is a good window onto the 90s - pre dotcom mania.



4. I thoroughly enjoyed this book from beginning to end. For anyone interested in the culture of Silcion Valley it is a must read. Yes, as other reviewers pointed out it jumps around quite a bit. Both in terms of pace and interest. However, taken as a whole it provides exciting stories of busines, personal flare, finance, and technology. A good read for anyone with at least a vague interest in the subject matter.



5. I believe this is the only book I have ever literally thrown across the room. Where to begin describing its offensiveness? Let's see....It purports to be about Silicon Valley (I think)and yet completely misses the point of the place. Silicon Valley did not become the place it did because wealthy VCs attended charity events and had breakfast at Buck's. It was a great deal of study and hard work that got us here -- topics clearly far beyond Kaplan's breezy competence.
   
   People who admire Paris Hilton will probably like this book, too. It's pitched to her level.

5 comments about OCP Oracle9i Database: New Features for Administrators Exam Guide.

1. Its not a bad book, easy reading, good structure. Has nice CD-rom testing software.
   
   But let me tell you.. its not nearly detailed enough. I just took the OCP 9i and you need to cover way more material than is covered in this book. I'd say 50% of the exam is in this book, so that is not very good coverage.



2. This book is good as a study guide, but you HAVE to go more deeper with the official documentation and exercise the topics with a real database. I just passed the test and it was only because I studied the topics in much further detail. It is also based on release 1 not on current release 2. It has several mistakes but easy to discover, you have to crosscheck with the documentation. But the book is a good guide, otherwise the scope of study would be too big.



3. This is book is geared for Oracle DBAs as the title indicates and is therefore written accordingly. It does have a few mistakes that you should be able to spot. As far as the exam is concerned, it covers most of the material on the test but don't use it as your only preparation tool because this book lacks depth. If this is your only study guide, unless you're an experienced DBA and master all the content in this book you will not pass the exam.



4. I hate reading this book - boring.
   Lots of mistakes in the text and in the software.
   Test software is awful - multiple choice questions often have single choice controls. Sometimes duplicates of answer. Once I spoted even missed text of a question - it was just "New Question" I would never ever recommend it - buy another one - there is plenty on the market.



5. Just wanted to warn everyone that Oracle appears to have changed this test (in the last month), only requiring a 50% to pass (down from 68%). While this may seem like a good thing, the questions are ridiculous. Not sure if they were always this way and they lowered the required score to allow more people to pass, or if they changed the questions themselves, necessitating the lowered score, but either way the sample questions in this book are barely relevant to the actual exam, if they ever were.
   
   That said, I did pass the exam on my first try with a 73% primarily using this book and Robert Freeman's, so it does still cover the topics well enough to pass the exam. Just don't expect to "ace" this exam. As an Oracle 8,8i,9i OCP, I can say this is easily the hardest (bordering on the unfair) I've seen, but since the required score is lower, I guess it's ok. Unfortunately, I didn't know about the change while I was in the exam room sweating bullets...

5 comments about Oracle DBA 101.

1. I have not been able to complete this book, but I do think that it is rather difficult for a beginner doing self-study. Please, look elsewhere!



2. I seldom wrote any book comments due to my poor English writing. I consider myself as an Oracle DBA beginner and want to lie on my resume. Though I have completed the whole book I still feel confused about the Oracle architecture and basic Oracle DBA commands. This book is not a good reference book for a starter. Besides, this book doesn't cover some preliminary but important topics such as Oracle Network and background processes. If you just like me want to cheat on your resume to get a DBA job, get a different book.



3. This is a good book for the oracle beginner. The concepts, unique to Oracle (from the perspective of a beginner or someone familiar with other database systems such as Microsoft SQL Server) have been plainly explained. Such explanation is not available in Oracle manuals or help files.

   Having said that, the book, at times, tries to simplify subjects too much. As a result, the book has a lot more pages than its necessary and might run the risk of frustrating the reader.

   I would've given it a higher rating if it was shorter and more to the point. Good book regardless.




4. This book is horrible. For example, the section on imp and exp simply have a screen shot showing the output of "help=y". Great, thanks... I could have done that myself. How about going over some typical scenarios like backing up a tablespace and loading it to a test server? Want to see how full your tablespace is? You won't find anything about that in this book. Hmmm, maybe your archive logs are filling up your disk? Can you safely delete them? You won't find the answer here. There is a chapter on tuning the server. Why you'd put this in a "101" book is beyond me.



5. The text is too basic to be a realy useful reference. If you've got any Oracle experience, you'll probably skim through most of the text. Sure, you'll pick up a pointer here and there--but that'd be the case with nearly any book.
   
   I guess if you're not an Oracle user but want some familiarity (say, you're a technical Project Manager, or you're an experienced SQL Server DBA moving to Oracle)--maybe then this would be a good review. But otherwise, it's too simple for even a "101" rating.

5 comments about Java Programming with Oracle JDBC.

1. Looks like most of the material came from oracle documentation. Examples are very basic



2. This book gives good coverage of Oracle's JDBC implementation. That is about as far as it goes. This is just too close to being documentation. When purchasing books on a specific technology, I am looking for the author's insight. Specific things the author learned while working with it. Give me best practices, suggestions, things to avoid, etc. Tell me what I won't learn from Oracle's docs, don't just rewrite them.



3. This book is for Java developers who need to get the most out of using JDBC and Oracle (version 8.1.6). Choosing a specific database allows a lot more detail. Other JDBC books may skip database-dependent parts of the API; this book even gives code examples for the hard stuff. It is slow to read end-to-end, but "dipping" works well - there's almost always a helpful code example nearby.

   There are problems, though. The author is obviously very familiar with Oracle, but lacks the experience to make comparisons with other products, this book won't help you choose when to use Oracle or whan another system might be more appropriate. Also I noticed other signs of lack of research - he sometimes gets abbreviations wrong, and the Java code is not particularly well-written.

   The big problem for me is that the book assumes you only ever use Oracle. There is no consideration of code portability, it offers no wisdom about avoiding or encapsulating proprietary Oracle-specific extensions. The techniques in this book could easily lock your product into Oracle, worse, they might even lock your product into a specific version of Oracle.

   The book has minor discussion of extra features in Oracle8i and Oracle9i, but nothing about JDBC 3. It's less helpful if you are using a version older than 8.1.6, too.

   If you (or your management) have already sold your soul to Oracle, get this book. If you might need to use other databases, get a more generic book, but keep this one for those times when only a specific Oracle feature will do the trick.




4. Let me start by saying that had I purchased this book 2 years ago when it was first released, I would have given it 5 stars.

   This is a very well-written book, with good explanations and sample code. However, the book is fairly out of date, and much of the performance tuning suggestions he makes don't really apply as much when using the latest Oracle JDBC drivers and Oracle9 database. This book covers Oracle 8.1.6, and a lot of changes have been made between that release and 8.1.7 and Oracle9.

   I recommend the newer "Oracle 9i JDBC Programming" book by Jason Price for much more current coverage of this topic.




5. A no-nonsense, well-written and well-organized introduction to the Java programming language with Oracle JDBC. It uses a careful, example-based, easy to understand approach. A friendly and well-written book recommended for anyone ready to learn the power of Java programming language with Oracle JDBC.
   Thank you

No comments about Oracle® Financials Interview Questions: Unofficial Oracle Financials / Fusion Certification Review: Includes Oracle Financials and Oracle Fusion Middleware Interview Questions.

5 comments about High Stakes, No Prisoners : A Winner's Tale of Greed and Glory in the Internet Wars.

1. Mr. Ferguson's book is the only narration I have so far encountered (including Mr. Michael Lewis' THE NEW NEW THING, Mr. Po Bronson's THE NUDIST ON THE LATE SHIFT, and Mr. Randall E. Stross' EBOYS) that may actually represent what goes on in the entrepreneur world, and it does so in a straightforward tone with a whole lot of humor- and some cynicism- thrown in, making the book an enjoyable read.

   What's amazing about this book is its age: although the book is from 1999, much of what Mr. Ferguson concludes about where the industry is headed has come true or is slowly being recognized by the mainstream line of thought (this is quite an accomplishment in case you do not understand the rarity of such occurrences). Mr. Ferguson actually understands the technology and business underlining his startup as well, and he isn't afraid to admit when his comprehension falls short. Ask any engineer- this personality attribute in leaders of the entrepreneur world is becoming increasingly uncommon, unfortunately.

   If you're looking for a book that is written by someone who has been there and has also stood the test of time in terms of holding its conclusions intact, this is it for the late 90s era. If you're looking for a book by an outsider who doesn't seem to understand what's really going on and that romanticizes Silicon Valley or Route 128, look for something else. I especially recommend this book to anyone who is frustrated with the herd mentality in the tech world and would like to read something that has a refreshing independence to its views.

   (Actually, on second thought, if you're looking for a book that humorously shoots itself in the foot with its free-wheeling conjectures and hasty exclamations prior to the stock market correction, check out those books I listed above).




2. Charles Ferguson is smart. Charles Ferguson knows he's smart. But Charles Ferguson thinks he's smarter and more important than he really is, and this makes this otherwise interesting book sometimes painful to read.

   The chapters covering the formation through eventual acquisition of Vermeer Technologies are an interesting education in the ways of VCs and hi-tech startups in the mid 90's. However, the last three chapters of the book are pretty worthless. These contain Ferguson's analysis of the industry and predictions for the future, and suffer because of Ferguson's worldview that he and Vermeer were far more important to the industry than they actually were. Ferguson lacks an understanding of large IT operations, and it's unfortunately evident in these chapters.

   Ferguson's pronounced hostility towards certain actors in his book - including former subordinates - also makes for uncomfortable reading. Some things should simply be kept private.

   Buy the book if you want to learn about VCs and hi-tech startups early in the Internet era, and don't mind wading through Ferguson's ego eruptions. Otherwise, skip it.




3. Charles Ferguson, an MIT PhD, was the founding CEO of Vermeer Technologies, a company that developed one of the first web design tools. Vermeer sold the company to Microsoft for a boatload of money and lived to tell the tale. It's a fasinating story of what its really like on the inside of a high-tech startup replete with politics, hard-ball negotiations and strange bedfellows. Ferguson may be arrogant, but he's smart and tells it like it is. Anyone thinking of building a startup should read this book.



4. Yes, Charles is brilliant, arrogant and is lightening-fast in seeing the failings of others and himself and is willing to take ownership of them (rectifying the situation and doing something about it is another story completely...). However, he also has a massive inferiority-complex when up against anyone with more brains, more money, more privilege or more power than himself hence his complete disdain for anything Microsoft-related (never mind that it was the hand that fed him and he continues to bite it). He also fails to see that you can attract a lot more bees with honey instead of vinegar. It's not a coincidence that everyone from Vermeer, except Charles eventually landed a job at Microsoft, I suspect Gates was smart enough to see just how insanely jealous Charles must be of him. As for his acidic portrayal of many of the players in the book, I'm fairly sure Charles really reserves his most toxic rage and disdain for those persons who display A)either negative qualities he has and sees a lot of himself in and wished he did not have (i.e career opportunism, uppity-ness) or B)positive qualities he wished he had but is too nasty to ever take time out to acquire and attract (i.e Gates with his greater reserves of intelligence, power and wealth). Gates also has a quality and understanding that Charles doesn't: that life isn't just about accumulating stuff, but about the quality and integrity of the relationships around you. Gates is no innocent either but at least I've never heard any stories about him running around on his wife and kids and the people he surrounds himself with have been with him for years. Charles, on the other hand goes through people like toilet paper, he even admits that he's so impossible that people either dislike him right away or shortly thereafter - as exemplified in this book.
   I've actually dated him and yes, his character does come out in his writing very strongly. So yes, he is a real jerk, and can be an even larger jerk especially when you've outsmarted him in any slight way. That being said, he also has a very warm, human, giving and honest side which for some unknown reason he hoards jealously (and glimpses of it come out here and there in the book), which is why in the book he skewers just about everyone and their dog. It's really too bad - with a talent and intelligence like that, he could have gotten a lot more for Vermeer, a lot more for himself and he'd be a happier human being instead of a 50-ish, balding, lonely, bitter software millionaire in a Mazda Miata.
   A+ = for writing, use of wit and humour as well as quality
   A = for relevancy of content
   B = for character portrayal
   C = for overall importance in the grand scheme of things



5. OK, If I could I'd give it 4.5 stars or so -- there are flaws. But basically, the book has a lot of great info, especially for geeks who work in the software business. There are very few books on the business side of things.
   
   The author is incredibly blunt. Perhaps a bit nasty. But it is clear that he had to do it so that he didn't get fleeced. Also, it is great to see someone with a backbone.
   
   The step-by-step evolution of stuff is great. You really get a feel for what happened, when it happened.
   
   I'd say it is required reading for geeks.

5 comments about Creating a Self-Tuning Oracle Database: Automating Oracle9i Dynamic SGA Performance (Oracle In-Focus series).

1. This was very enjoyable read and I'm very happy to see that many of the details about using the Oracle9i dynamic SGA are revealed. The problem has always been that the Oracle documentation tells you about the new features yet fail to tell you about how to apply them.

   After reading this book I was able to understand the automatic-tuning methods in Oracle10g and they made sense because the author revealed some of the mechanisms that they use. The online scripts are very nice also, with many I had never seen before.




2. The book is everything the other reviewers have already said. The author surely knows what he is writing and the book contains lot of useful information on the inner workings of SGA and how to fine tune it.
   
   One caveat, the author deliberately leaves out the details on the STATSPACK so he can sell you an ANOTHER book on STATSPACK which he also wrote. I found this little annoying since STATSPACK is the primary utility to monitor SGA, and hence, I felt it should have been covered in complete detail instead of just a glimpse in order to sell an another book.



3. Don Burleson has his name on more Oracle books than (I believe) any other author. However, many other experts on the Oracle database spend a significant portion of their time debunking errors and misinformation that he disseminates in articles and books like these. [...] where a search for "Burleson" will turn up several articles which point out inaccuracies in his articles or statements.



4. The majority of the information in this book, while looking impressive, is actually so much fluff. A majority of it will either do nothing for performance or make performance worse. Yes, on some systems, some of the suggestions may improve performance, but there is not enough information provided to show you where or when which changes will make which improvements.
   
   Here is an interesting section:
   
   - Plotting the Data Buffer Hit Ratio by Hour of the Day
   
   Isn't that nice. I can graph my buffer hit ratio by hour by day. That is going to help me a lot! The author is still stuck in the ratio mindset and doesn't seem to truly understand how the Oracle SGA actually works. Doesn't show it to the reader anyways.



5. Statspack is a Godsend tool from Oracle, and this book goes even further than 10g.
   
   This and the previous edition of the book provide DBAs with an excellent introduction into understanding statspack internal tables and great ideas on how to integrate critically important OS statistics into the statspack data gathering process to a self tuning database.
   
   I found this book and the WISE Oracle tool to be invaluable tools that extend statspack capabilities and help to resolve complex performance problems.

5 comments about Inside Cisco: The Real Story of Sustained M&A Growth.

1. This is an easy to read book that covers a lot of what made Cisco succeed in the 1990s. I liked the conversational writing style but also got a lot out of the content. A solid book that anyone looking to grow their business through acquisition should read.



2. "To date, your book Inside Cisco: The real story behind sustained M&A growth is my favorite regarding the topic of mergers and acquisitions. I used to work at a Merchant Bank in Irvine doing financial analysis in connection with mergers and acquisitions for a summer and a lot of the work we did involved growth through acquisitions. Your book clearly explains a lot of the rationale behind M&A strategies."

   Douglas Lee




3. There's no reason to beat around the bush: This is not an objective history of Cisco. It is an unabashedly adulatory look at one of the most influential companies of the New Economy. If you're looking for a critical assessment of Cisco's business model and execution, look elsewhere. That does not mean that you should ignore Inside Cisco, however. On the contrary, we from getAbstract strongly recommend this book for its detailed dissection of Cisco's acquisition methodology, from its target identification and selection to integration and employee retention. Anyone in business would do well to read this book, study these processes and make them their own.



4. Please allow me to disclose my bias... I am a former Cisco M&A, or as Ed Paulson would say a
   Cisco A&D (Acquisitions and Development).
   And a disclaimer: These comments are my own, and represent my own opinions, not Cisco Systems's.

   To position Ed's book, let's first look at the current body of M&A research.

   "We know surprisingly little about mergers and acquisitions, despite the
   buckets of ink spilled on the topic. In fact our collective knowledge can be
   summed up in a few short sentences", noted Joseph Bower in his article "Not
   all M&A are alike - and that's what matters" (Harvard Business Review, March
   2001). A year later, Roy Harris wrote in his article "A lesson before
   buying: University executive-education programs tackle one of the business
   world's toughest jobs: Teaching M&A",

   "You feel the question taking shape in the opening lecture of Robert
   Holthausen's "Mergers and Acquisitions" class. As the Wharton professor
   recounts the problems with deal-making today, ticking off two dozen reasons
   why mergers fail--from valuation errors to culture clashes--the discouraging
   statistics fly by on the screen behind him. McKinsey says 74 percent of
   deals fail to create shareholder value, KPMG says it's 83 percent. At last,
   the inevitable hand shoots up in front: 'Is this going to be a class about
   why we shouldn't acquire anybody?'" (May, 2002, CFO The Magazine for Senior
   Financial Executives)

   Paulson's "Inside Cisco: The Real Story of Sustained M&A Growth" provides a
   well researched analysis on how to do successful M&As. I hope the book will
   be used as a textbook at many American and international executive M&A
   programs.




5. I don't 'get' why so many people think so highly of this book. I was one of the M&A folks at Cisco, doing mostly A. It wasn't so structured, nor so successful, nor so wonderful. We just did the best we can -- each deal is different.
   
   Nice to have the name, the money, market share, etc. Made it much easier to get an acceptable deal. If I were on the other side of the table, life would have been less nice.
   
   The author's uncritical look at the Cisco way makes me suspect that (a) he just didn't know or (b) he was paid off.