5 comments about Oracle Insights: Tales of the Oak Table.

1. Declaration of Interest: I was lucky to have worked alongside one of the authors. So that's why I bought it.
   
   Glad I did. Read it on the beach over Easter weekend. Dipped in and out. Learned and laughed. Certain to re-read some chapters, and to refer back to it. The very different styles of the contributors make it all the more readable - you just don't know whats coming next.
   
   Its worth the price for pretty much any 3 of the 11 chapters, even if you chose them at random. And you can hit your SAN manager over the head with it, he probably won't feel a thing anyway.
   
   Thank you OakTable.
   
   But its not in your shopping cart yet is it, because I've marked it down a star. Look, there are some minor bugbears. Don't be put off, just setting expectations:
   
   1) There's some heavy name-dropping, perhaps in keeping with the project. Perhaps I'm jealous my brain isn't the size of a planet; these chaps' are.
   
   2) You can see from (1)that HHTTG was funny once, about 20 years ago. My dad has been citing it as the answer to everything ever since; its worn a bit thin. I'm sure he would love this book for exactly that reason.
   
   3) I'm the sure the sequel will be even better.
   
   You can put me down for 2 copies of "Seeing Double: Tales from Under the Oak Table" while I'm here.



2. I have 14 years of Oracle Experience with some of the busiest and largest transaction systems in the world. This book really hit home for me and brought back a lot of memories of painful times as well as gave me new insights. I have re-read this book twice since getting it amonth ago. It is that good.
   
   The Tales of the Oaktable is a skeptic's work of technological history that is funny and hard to put down, but which also provides experienced database professionals roadmaps to solve their pressing problems ( or even see that they have a problem.)
   
   The authors take an empirical, rational approach to diagnosing and discovering the most serious problems while providing amusing revelations about the people and organizations they have worked with. Along the way they lift Oracle's skirts and take us out back to show us the dirty laundry and other junk in Oracle's back yard. They provide methods to diagnose and reapir problems in oracle performance as well as enumerate the known pitfalls in project management and database design. Seasoned IT types will groan and laugh during these chapters.
   
   They also look at larger architectural, economic, psychological, and philosophical issues which have a direct impact on databases and large information systems. Norgaard's history of computing is quite depressing. And I agree that many of the "new" blood wants to focus on .NET and J2EE - when the real heart and soul is still the data.
   
   Oracle Insights DOES require both deep thought and deep, hard-won knowledge of Oracle in order to fully enjoy it. So, if at first you don't like it, then you don't know what you don't know.
   
   
   
   



3. I really don't know where I should begin writing this review to give the book a proper credit that it deserves. Hmm...FUN - I think that this word best describes this collection of essays (eleven prominent authors instead of more usual one or two, certainly helped a lot).
   Can't remember when was the last time that I read technical book that kept me reading and reading, and reading - simply because all essays were *fun* to read. To be clear, yes I'm an Oracle geek, but I don't think you have to be an expert to understand 'the point' in the majority of the book, on contrary, if you're by any chance an Oracle newbie you have an opportunity to learn from the true experts (from their work done on the "projects from hell") and pick up some good habits and techniques to start your Oracle career (this book is not really about internals as much as it's about proper design and importance of understanding technology before using it - and using it to the full extent - you'll probably never again write DB agnostic applications, if this was your sin in the past :-).
   So, being an expert or not, I'm sure you'll get the true 'message' from this book that will stick with you for the rest of your life (of course experts will enjoy reading it slightly more, they'll finally learn, what AFIEDT.BUF is really all about ;-).
   Finally, thank you guys for writing this book, and Mr. Mogens Noorgard (you lucky *****), thank you for "networking" Oak Table members together.
   Thank you for reading this review.



4. As an Oracle and SQL Server DBA for the last seven years I found this book an excellent and very refreshing change from technical manuals and books on Oracle database design and administration. The first few chapters are priceless from Oracle history to the useful read on Oracle tuning using Wait events. I really enjoyed learning how the product evolved from inception to the new version of 10g. All in all money well spent and nice to know that even such gurus as the Oak Table guys are human and have shared tough DBA experiences. Someday I want to meet and work with these guys!



5. The book starts off with "A Brief History of Oracle" that lasts 68 of the 395 pages of this book...
   
   Then it proceeds with various chapters by noted Oracle gurus which have serious flaws of being too superficial and random in their coverage of Oracle technologies. No aspect of Oracle is covered in depth.
   
   Worse yet, some of the authors have devoted far too little of their time on their chapters. Some of the chapters are nothing more than a bunch of philosophical rantings about Oracle and database management.
   
   If you are interested in Oracle performance tuning, I recommend books specifically devoted to the subject by a highly regarded author (Cary Milsap and Jonathan Lewis comes to mind). If you are interested in reading half motivated essays by Oracle gurus, then this book fits the bill.
   
   If you are unfamiliar with Oracle performance tuning and architecture, this book will offer a lot of interesting insights. But finding good technical nuggets of Oracle architecture and performance tuning will require some lengthy, and often unneccessary, reading.

5 comments about Conducting the Oracle Job Interview: IT Manager Guide for Oracle Job Interviews with Oracle Interview Questions (IT Job Interview series).

1. I bought this book and went through it in less than 2 hours. I think the book is worth to read. It certainly gives you some ideas on how the DBA job interview is conducted. I did like it. I believe the book can help junior DBAs get prepared for a job interview.
   For the reviewers who think the book can help hire the wrong person, I would say that is true. But if you are not a qualified DBA and you study this book to get a job, sooner or later your lies will catch up with you and you will be on the road again looking for another job.



2. [...]
   These are not guys prone to asking hypotheticals, or encouraging thought experiments. They wear white shirts. They have answers. You'd better know these answers, and only these, because they've been written down in this little book.
   
   No subtle distinctions, variations of experience, or questions of cognitive talent will clutter their decision processes at hiring time. These are not distractible people.
   
   They cover a lot of ground here. Who makes a great Oracle person? Electrical Engineers are perfect candidates -- but watch out for Education majors (they're suspect). (FYI, this reviewer is an E.E. -- glad to know I'm okay.) What personality type is best? Try to get one with an "'Anal' personality,"
   
   "after Sigmund Freud's theory of anal-retentive personalities" (page 34).
   
   I bet these guys are great fun. Pleasant to work with (assuming you've memorized the entire content of your site's init.ora, and can recite it verbatim).
   
   I must heartily disagree with one of the critics of this book. It is not wide and shallow. Rather it is narrow and subterranean. It expects encyclopedic knowledge of Oracle trivia -- the minor and/or once-in-a-career kind of stuff.
   
   Most answers it asks for are the kind slovenly architects and developers refer to in the documentation, when, if ever, they are pertinent, or whenever they've been forgotten in the rush of ten dozen other tasks, or after the certification test is done with. You'll only be getting cream with this book, the kind of professionals who read and reread from Rampant's Oracle In-Focus series, especially to the kids before bed each and every night.
   
   Heaven help you.



3. This book is useful for an IT manager with limited Oracle experience. Looking forward to seeing an updated version!



4. I used this book as a guide when hiring a co-worker and it saved me considerable labour. I would disregard the other reviews that stuff this book because it mentions that Oracle programmers need college degrees and a sense of proper professional attire. If you work in a professional environment, this is the book that explains how-to find fellow professionals.
   
   The technical questions are good but my favorite part is the personal accessment section. Too many Oracle people think that Oracle is just another job, and this short book sets the record straight.



5. To find a good candidate and hire that person does take some homework for the person doing the hiring. You have to weed out the people who do not qualify immediately. This book gives you that help.
   
   The book is a great guide in what to look for in and how to be a Oracle professional. Along with guidance on education, professional experience, personal appearance, the book provide sample questions that all Oracle DBAs should know. The candidate can use the questions as a review. The employer can use the questions as a guide to other questions or could use the questions straight from the book. Of course the employer should be aware that the candidate might have also read the book.
   
   Any employer looking for a quality candidate should buy this book.

No comments about Competing in the Age of Digital Convergence.

5 comments about Rise & Resurrection of the American Programmer (Yourdon Press Computing Series).

1. I have read this book three years ago when I was a programming consultant. It is amazing to see the parallel between Yourdon's thoughts in the book and the current Software Engineering Institute CMM methodology. It is as if the whole new methodology was based on this book!

   This book definitely reads better than SEI's documentation. You can finish the book in a couple of days and retain the mahority of the ideas presented.

   If you are a programming supervisor, IT manager, or an enthusiastic software engineer, this book is fun, captivating, and very motivational.




2. I had to buy this for my CASE tool class. First of all, Yourdon's reliance on "models" to illustate his concepts is ridiculous. The Maturity model, the SEI model...its all useless.

   If people in the IT industry tried to follow these models, they would end up "dead and destroyed."

   This book is boring, as well. It is his attempt at redeeming himself after his first book.

   I could go on and on...




3. Although I haven't yet finished this book I can't help but feel that he was closer to the mark with his first book. In the last three years many foreign countries have been ramping up the amount of software development they do for American (and European) clients. Local software developers cannot compete on cost, so they must compete either on innovation or quality. They're not making it on quality and innovations can only take you so far.



4. While Yourdon's "Death March" wasn't another "Mythical Man-Month" by any measure, "Rise" is yet in another (much lower) class. Does Yourdon want to become a true industry pundit? Ed, your style is too clear for that; and you're writing in harback format, which doesn't blissfully disappear like all these magazines.

   There are many valuable insights: the section on best practices, for example. The good thing is that Yourdon doesn't just talk about them: he lists a few. "User Manual as Specification" is so simple, so obviously good... why have we done anything else ever? "Good-enough software" is valuable as well, not because you're not doing that already, but because the key is making it a fully conscious and accepted process.

   And then there are some chapters that I'd rather not talk about; the one about Java, for example. The author obviously got carried away. In hindsight, this is easy to say, but still: it lacked realism, even if Microsoft hadn't tried foiling Sun's plans since day 1.

   Overall: read Yourdon's other books, they're worthier of your money. And if you haven't the classics like "MMM" (Brooks), go there first.




5. I bought this book march 2000, Read it, thought it was OK , left it on my shelf. 5 Years later I was going to discard it from my collection. opened it up and was surprised at the wealth of information in it and how closely it matches my own experience and philospohy. It is a mine of good information. Not a book to read front to back but to explore, it reads better than most web and magazine articles. If you can get one on the used market its worth 50cents of anyones money. i would say its time for a revised edition.

1 comments about Oracle9i for Windows(R) Handbook.

1. "Oracle 9i for Windows Handbook," is a good book for me to learn Oracle 9i in Windows environment. When I suddenly found this book in Borders, I was very excited to read it for 1 hour. And then I ordered it online.

   I like the author's writing style. Before I read this book, I was very confused about how to create a oracle 9i database manually in Windows 2000. I don't know the commands and registry key in Windows 2000. After reading this book, I get all the answers in this book.

   In this book, you will find it very clear to learn how to create a database using DBCA and how to create a database manually. This book also gives me a good idea about how to upgrade from oracle 8/8i to oralce 9i using database migration assistant or using export and import command. The author makes a comment on when is the best time to use them separately. I also learn how to backup the database using cold backup, hot backup and recovery manager.

   If you want to go through Oracle 9i and have a hands-on experience in your own PC, I recommand that you use this book as a reference. This book covers a lot of topics, but maybe you will find that's not enoght for you to know Oracle 9i in detail. I still recommend that the beginners read this book.

1 comments about Everyday Oracle DBA (Osborne Oracle Press Series).

1. April J. Wells had done a good job for his earlier 11i DBA book but this book is not good for any level of DBA.

1 comments about BI Publisher for Oracle E-Business Suite.

1. If you can spell "BI" you already know more than this book will teach you. It is not a book at all but rather a "pamplet". 136 pages for for $41 is over 30 cents a page, there is not a nickels worth of useful information on any page in the book, that said, if I had spent $5.00 on the book I would still be very disappointed. The examples shown are too simplistic to be worth anybody's time. And there is nothing at all useful on the Data Template. All in all this book is a zero. Don't waste your money

5 comments about OCP: Oracle9i Certification Kit.

1. Hi,

   The content and the style is really comprehensive and easy to understand. The best part is the closeness to the actual exam.

   There are so many books to learn about Oracle but by using this book and exam sim from whizlabs, I could easily cracked the exam.

   I'll highly recommed it.

   Best wishes,
   Sunil




2. This is definitely the best oracle 9i book in the market.
   However, you must use it with the Simulate Exam question.
   Otherwise, I think is impossble to pass.

   I think ocpfree/ocpfree1/ocpfree2/ocpfreeX in yahoogroup.com has provide a valuable Exam Simulation all for free.
   No need to buy the simulate test. This book + yahoogroups + Study will gurantee you pass.




3. While the first two volumes covered the testing material fairly well, the last two volumes (Fundamentals II & Performance Tuning) compare very poorly to their counterparts published by Oracle Press. I have bought other Sybex study guides, and they have been nothing but good to me. This "kit" comes up a little short. If you must absolutely buy a boxed set for the cost savings, I would recommend Oracle Press's set ISBN 007219524X also available at Amazon.

   In the book for Fundamentals II, the coverage of networking, Shared Server and imp/exp is VERY sparse. While the sections on Backups is better, the Oracle Press books were a little more on target in presenting concepts for the exam.

   The Oracle Press book for Performance Tuning was a much better choice not only for the exam, but also works as a great reference at my desk. Again, the material and its presentation was more complete and representative of the concepts tested on the exam.




4. The book is found very useful. The structure and scope is easily agreeable to the exam syllabus.



5. It is worth buying this set to use for the Oracle 9i track OCP exams.
   
   *OCA/OCP: Introduction to Oracle9i SQL Study Guide (1Z0-007)
   Good book, it covers pretty much all the exam objectives. It is easy to read and easy to follow. But I prefer the sybex study for the exam (1Z0-001) which is an alternative to the exam (1Z0-007). Overall I give 5 stars for this book within the whole set.
   
   * OCA/OCP: Oracle9i DBA Fundamentals I Study Guide (1Z0-031)
   Very good! The content of the book is well-aligned with the exam objectives. It is easy to read and easy to follow. Can even be used as reference. I also give 5 stars for this book within the whole set.
   
   * OCP: Oracle9i DBA Fundamentals II Study Guide (1Z0-032)
   The only bad apple in the basket. This book does not account for all the exam objectvies outlined by the Oracle Certification Program. The book does covers some of the topics tested on the exam but not in depth to make you feel comfortable. I admit I gained some knowledge out of this. Overall it is not a complete guide. I rate 3 stars within the whole set.
   
   * OCP: Oracle9i Performance Tuning Study Guide (1Z0-033)
   Best book! Complete coverage of the exam objectives. The coverage is good and clear with many screenshots of codes. The only problem with this book is it does not follow the format of exam objectives. But you can still find your way out. Overall, I recommend it. I give 5 stars within the whole set.
   
   Finally, my suggestion is this: to maximize your chance and master the topic, try to get also the Oracle Press books. If you couple the Oracle Press books and the Sybex Study guide, you don't need the expensive practice test software. You will have plenty of questions you will increase your chance of passing the first time.

5 comments about Oracle9i for Windows(R) 2000 Tips & Techniques.

1. This is a very good book, covering many Oracle features. You can find more info on setting up Advanced Replication, FailSafe, Standby Databases, Real Application Clusters than you can find in most of the other Oracle books on the market.
   The book is dedicated to Windows platforms, but lot of the information is also applicable to other platforms. Definetly a 5-stars work for me.



2. If you are new to Oracle and Windows 2000, then it's worth while. This book doesn't go into anything much about 9i. It reads like the 7.3 book with minor updates over the years for Windows 2000 and Oracle 8, 8i and 9i. It offers sparse information about the new 9i features, such as SPFILE. For ($$$) the authors should have rewritten a few chapters instead of splicing in 9i topics that you can find in Oracle's White Papers.

   Don't expect this book to be a great reference either. It doesn't give much syntax for 9i. Coming from 7.3 and 8.1.7 environments on NT, this book provided nothing other than a refresher from the old green 7.3.4 DBA Oracle book, which I still like better. ...




3. I found it very helpful that this book also references 8.1.7 as well as 9i. The index, found in the back of the book, has several references to the SPFILE. It also has a detailed section on memory usage. Not only does this book give a summary of
   Oracle Memory usage on Windows 2000, but goes into detail on how
   to set up the boot.ini file when using 8i. Therefore, the reader
   knows what 9i can do, and what it can't. This is very helpful
   when tuning your database and deciding what version to upgrade to. It is obvious that the authors put a lot of research into this book.



4. What this book is great for is its focus on the Windows 2000 operating system. Those using other OS's may find it helpful as well. It even contained a rare answer (and solution) to why 8i wouldn't install, there was a bug running with Pentium IV CPUs.



5. Good explanations on windows features but doesn't go into step by step details on windows tuning. A lot of detailed information on High Availability databases from Windows clustering to Advanced Replication (Step by step instructions). There is an outstanding chapter on database connectivity. This is a very advanced DBA book, don't expect information on SQL staff, index tuning, tablespace tuning so on.

No comments about Transforming Infoglut! A Pragmatic Strategy for Oracle Enterprise Content Management (Osborne Oracle Press).