Peter Robson has asked me to help him out with something via my blog. Our user group is looking at the possibility of having a books section on their website. To help them choose which books to include, Peter was interested to find what readers of this blog would list as their top three Oracle-related books. I can only think of two rules
1) You’re not allowed to nominate your own books (actually, that was Peter’s rule)
2) You should try to avoid out of print books because they’re going to be for sale.
I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I get as many comments as possible here, to make the survey as representative as possible so, please, even if I’ve insulted you at some point in the past ;-), speak up now! Oh, and you don’t neccessarily have to justify your choices if you don’t want to – a simple 1, 2, 3 will do.
Cheers,
Doug
is at the top for me…
9i DBA 101
cost baised oracle fundamentals
oracle one on one
optimizing oracle performence
OK so that’s 4, i never did claim to be able to count. and since i don’t have any books of my own that part was easy.😉
Oracle in a Nutshell
Expert One on One
Oracle New Features by Robert Freeman (9i or 10g)
1. Optimising Oracle Performance – for demystifying the tuning process
2. Effective Oracle by Design – for showing, telling and backing it up by proving, and…
3. Oracle Insights, Tales of the Oaktable – for the stories, anecdotes and history.
Number 1 – Effective Oracle by Design. (Tom Kyte, who else?)
I don’t have 2 & 3, just no. 1.
1. Optimizing Oracle Performance
2. Oracle Wait Interface: A Practical Guide to Performance Diagnostics & Tuning
3. Oracle9i RMAN Backup & Recovery
Thanks folks, I appreciate you making the effort. Now that a few votes are already in, I think I’d go for
1) Expert One-on-One
2) Cost Based Oracle Fundamentals
3) Optimising Oracle Performance (enjoying this one more second time around)
(I quite liked Oracle Design, too, actually, I’d better stop before I end up with 6 or 7)
Oracle Wait Interface: A Practical Guide to Performance Diagnostics & Tuning
Expert Oracle Database Architecture
RMAN Backup and Recovery
Cost Based Oracle Fundamentals.
Practical Oracle 8i
Tales of the Oak Table.
How very interesting (and useful too!) – no one has cited the author of their chosen books. Is this indicative or what?? Thanks for your input, folks.
Peter Robson said…
“How very interesting (and useful too!) – no one has cited the author of their chosen books. Is this indicative or what??”
Woudl you expect people to state the author of ‘War and Peace’?
Cost Baised Oracle Fundamentals
Optimizing Oracle Performance
Oracle Wait Interface
2 peter:
No way someone could possibly not know the authors
Expert Oracle Database Architecture
Cost Based Oracle Fundamentals
Oracle Wait Interface
I actually like all of Tom’s books but thought I should list only one. EODA being the most up to date, that’s it for me.
I must say that I like the Oak Table book as well. The stories keep them more interesting.
Peter, Peter, Peter….
I do believe that ‘by Robert Freeman’ is fairly clear evidence of authorship citation…
{being particularly evil}
Perhaps you should have verified your assertion?
#1 – Effective Oracle by Design
🙂
At the risk of repeating a fairly common viewpoint…
1. Expert one on one
2. Cost Based Fundamentals
3. Optimising Oracle Performance
“At the risk of repeating a fairly common viewpoint…”
Either Tom has a lot of fake Blogger accounts, or people think his books are pretty good 😉
1) Expert One on One 8i
2) Optimizing Oracle Performance
both were “tipping point” books for me.
Several tie for 3rd place
1) Expert Oracle Database Architecture
2) Cost Based Oracle Fundamentals
3) Oracle 8i Internal Services
– Expert Oracle Database Architecture (by Thomas Kyte)
– Cost-Based Oracle Fundamentals (by Jonathan Lewis)
– Mastering Oracle PL/SQL: Practical Solutions (by Connor McDonald, Chaim Katz, Christopher Beck, Joel R. Kallman, David C. Knox)
I posted on 11/04 my top 10 on my blog (http://dgielis.blogspot.com – http://dgielis.blogspot.com/2006/04/my-top-10-oracle-books.html)… when I see the comments of the others, I suppose I need to review/update my list 😉
Dan Fink (in a particularly evil touch) wrote:
“I do believe that ‘by Robert Freeman’ is fairly clear evidence of authorship citation…
“{being particularly evil}
Perhaps you should have verified your assertion?”
Gulty as charged, M’Lud!
Yes, hoist with my own petard.
The observation was not a criticism, simply an observation. Even Dan’s response with only one author cited was inconsistent (can’t resist that evil interjection!).
This list will be incredibly valuable. What better guidance could we provide for the learning community? Again, thank you all very much.
ps – Doug, who did write that Peace and War thing I keep hearing about?
Andy Campbell said…
“3) Oracle 8i Internal Services “
When I cast my eye over my bookshelf, I saw Steve Adams’ book and thought ‘mmmm, shall I? No need to bother – Andy will mention that one’ 😉
1. Expert One On One
2. Practical Oracle 8i
A bit out of date but excellent reading and stand out books at the time
There is one very good book missing from the list:
Scaling 8i
I know it’s free, but it doesn’t mean it should be excluded from the list of excellent Oracle books. Others on my list:
CBO Fundamentals
Tales of the Oak Table
1. “The art and science of Oracle performance tuning” – Christopher lawson – can’t help it … most enjoyable book i’ve read on performance tuning
2. “Oracle 8i Internal Services for Waits, latches, locks and memory” – Steve Adams – one of the few books that actually discussed PCM locking in OPS environments (which was a great help 😉 )
3. “Cost-based Oracle” – J. Lewis – this one takes a couple of iterations of re-reading – but based on JL’s workshops it gave me a new perspective on some of the CBO aspects
3b – “The difference between God and Larry Ellison” – this is a must read – and good fun !
nothing new here, no ranking, so all are number 1…
1 Expert Oracle Database Architecture
1 Cost Based Oracle Fundamentals
1 Effective Oracle by Design
1. Expert One on One
2. Oracle 8, The Complete Reference (ok – i’m sure I should get an updated copy but this is still damn useful!)
3. Pro Oracle Spatial
Interesting to see consensus consolidating aound the usual suspects. There should have been a sweepstake.
This is list is rather DBA based at the moment. Not surprising giving the people who read this blog but still.
I think the obvious omission so far is: “Oracle PL/SQL Programming” by Steven Feuerstein, published by O’Reilly.
also, the late Lex de Haan’s “Mastering Oracle SQL and SQL*Plus” published by Apress.
I’d like to recommend books for Oracle tools but
(1) it’s been a long time since I bought a book on Forms or JDeveloper
(2) with the exception of “Oracle Designer: A Template for Developing An Enterprise Standards Document” by Mark Kramm and Kent Graziano (out of print) pretty much all the tools books I’ve read have been pretty suck-y.
Cheers, APC
Top three are:
1) Cost-Based Oracle Fundamentals, Jonathan Lewis
2) Practical Oracle 8i: Building Efficient Databases, Jonathan Lewis
3) Effective Oracle by Design, Thomas Kyte
Runners up:
4) Oracle SQL High-Performance Tuning , Guy Harrison
5) Expert One-on-One Oracle, Thomas Kyte
6) Optimizing Oracle Performance, Cary Milsap, Jeff Holt
7) Oracle8i Internal Services for Waits, Latches, Locks, and Memory, Steve Adams
😎 Scaling Oracle 8i, James Morle
9) Oracle Wait Interface: A Practical Guide to Performance Diagnostics & Tuning, Richmond Shee, et al
Recently re-read 1), 2), 7) and am in the middle of re-reading 4). I’m finding that there are some real gems ( good things, that have been forgotten ) in these older books when you go back and re-read with a fresh understanding.
APC said …
“This is list is rather DBA based at the moment. “
I agree and thanks for including some non-DBA books. How could I have forgotten ‘PL/SQL Programming’ 😉
Mathew said,
“4) Oracle SQL High-Performance Tuning , Guy Harrison”
It’s funny, I’ve had a similar experience to you re-reading bits of this book, which is one of the few I’ve kept hold of over the years. When I was doing the PX papers, I revisited Guy’s material on this and think it’s pretty good.
ALL ->
How about some recommendations for beginners?
Doug said –
“It’s funny, I’ve had a similar experience to you re-reading bits of this book, which is one of the few I’ve kept hold of over the years. When I was doing the PX papers, I revisited Guy’s material on this and think it’s pretty good.”
I think it is on a par with Practical Oracle8i in parts. I see some contentious things in here – like the use of PL/SQL to out perform straight SQL. I *still* haven’t gotten around to testing these on later versions using all the latest SQL features though. A great book!
Expert One-on-One Oracle – Tom Kyte
Oracle PL/SQL – Steve Feuerstein
Cost-Based Oracle Fundamentals – Jonathan Lewis
I would like to add PL/SQL Programming by Steven Feurestein, which is the best book i had ever read on PL/SQL.
Giridhar Kodakalla
Expert one-on-one
Cost based Oracle fundamentals
Optimizing Oracle Performance
other top books (in case you extend the list!)
Effective Oracle by Design
Oracle PL/SQL Best Practices
Mastering Oracle PL/SQL
1 Expert Oracle Database Architecture (includes “Expert One on One”)
2 Cost Based Oracle Fundamentals
3 Optimizing Oracle Performance + Oracle Wait Interface
The last two complement each other, Cary Millsap/Jeff Holt’s one being more focused on the method, Shee at altera’s one more on detailed discussions of the most important events (excellent as a practical reference). You’ll want both IMHO.
Runners up: all the books from the OakTable – especially Menon’s “Expert Oracle JDBC Programming” and the already mentioned Connor McDonald’s one on PL/SQL.
Common trait of them all: the “Scientific” approach, that delivers correct, proven, repeatable, practical information.
My 3 favorite of all time are well represented on the list so far:
1. Optimizing Oracle Performance by Millsap and Holt
2. Cost-Based Oracle Fundamentals by Lewis
3. Oracle8i Internal Servicesfor Waits, LAtches, Locks and Memory by Adams.
I’d also give an honorable mention to a golden oldie:
4. Oracle 24×7 Tips and Techniques by Devraj
so I thought I’d put a twist on the voting (sorry) and expose the 3 worst Oracle-related I’ve ever bought:
1. High Performance Oracle8 Tuning by Burleson. Despite the title, there wasn’t much related to 8 or Tuning or High Performance in the book (and it only cost me $49.99 to find that out).
2. Oracle 9i Development by Hotka. None of the examples worked. (at least it was free)
3. Oracle9i DBA Handbook by Loney and Theriault. Whenever I get into a jam at work and need a quick answer, I never find it in this $59.99 book.
How about some recommendations for beginners?
um, Doug look right at the top of the comments… 9i DBA101 is for beginners. although i still use it a lot.
gads, i’m forgetable and a beginner.😉
shrek said …
“um, Doug look right at the top of the comments… “
Yeah, I know, I know and i knew I could count on you but most of the rest wouldn’t neccessarily be my recommendations for someone’s *first* Oracle book 😉 Nothing wrong with getting accurate information from the start, though.
1. Expert Oracel Database Archiecture – T Kyte (this is a staple and baseline for all admins)
2. Optimizing Oracle Perfomance – Millsap (great methods)
3. RMAN Backup & Recovery – Freeman (last line of defense)
For beginners…
Oracle documentation Concepts Guide (okay, it’s not a ‘book’ for purchase, but it should be mandatory reading)
Oracle SQL and SQL*Plus by Lex de Haan. SQL is the core language and sql*plus should be available on every Oracle server.
The 3rd book should be a broad treatment of the concepts of your job (design/develop/administer). I can’t suggest a specific book.
1. Expert One-on-One Oracle (Kyte)
2. Oracle Database Concepts Guide
3. Oracle PL/SQL (Feuerstein)
Oracle Essentials Greenwald,Stackowiak & Stern
not a bad overview for beginners.
Effective Oracle by Design Kyte
Expert Oracle Database Admin Kyte
Cost Based Fundamentals Lewis
Optimizing Oracle Perf. Millsap
1.Optimizing Oracle Performance
2.Expert One On One Oracle
3.Oracle Wait Interface
1. Optimizing Oracle Performance (Millsap/Holt)
2. Effective Oracle by Design (Kyte)
Those are the two that have influenced me the most.
1) Expert One-on-One Tom Kyte
2) Effective Oracle by Design Tom Kyte
2) Cost Based Oracle Fundamentals Jothan Lewis
Whilst everyone likes to state their opinion (and Tom’s link no doubt helped), I really appreciate the number of comments here and I think Peter will too. Thanks for your help.
OK, so there is a lot of consistency to the opinions, but maybe that’s a recognition of quality.
Cheers,
Doug
– Expert One on One – Tom Kyte
– Optimizing Oracle Performance – Cary Milsap
– Effective Oracle by Design – Tom Kyte
Effective Oracle by Design – Kyte
Optimizing Oracle Performance -Millsap/Holt
Oracle PL/SQL – Feuerstein
Oracle Database 10g DBA Handbook – Loney
Optimizing Oracle Performance
Oracle 9i RMAN Backup and Recovery
New Tom Kyte 10g Book
*** Those are my top three.
Is it a little tacky though by Tom on his blog to plug “vote and vote often?”.
Is it a little tacky though by Tom
I didn’t mean anything by it, “vote and vote often” is just a tongue in cheek comment we use a lot where I’m from.
Just was trying to drive traffic to the question, wasn’t trying to mean anything by it at all.
“Is it a little tacky though by Tom on his blog to plug “vote and vote often?”.”
I must admit, I didn’t see that at all! I don’t think Tom would be that worried about a crummy little vote. He was just trying to help out I think because the more people vote, the more representative would be.
Anyway, thanks everyone. I feel I should do a short blog later summarising the results.
Only three, gimme a break. If I had to choose,
Optimizing Oracle Performance by Cary Millsap and Jeffrey Holt
Oracle and Unix Performance Tuning (Paperback) by Ahmed Alomari
Cost-Based Oracle Fundamentals by Jonathan Lewis
My favorite book unread (only skimmed, so far):
Expert Oracle Database Architecture: 9i and 10g Programming Techniques and Solutions, by Tom Kyte.