Rating: 
Summary: Great book
Review: As a programmer, I found this book to be an excellent reference for learning PL/SQL. Nearly every topic you could be interested in is thoroughly covered. Steve is a good writer, and the book is very well organized.
Rating: 
Summary: Too much speech! Too many inaccuracies
Review: Why so much empty speech and "humour / esprit à deux sous"? Mister Feuerstein is apparently not so sure about the meaning of a constant. The code examples can be confusing. I had the impression that selling that what is intended to be humor is more important than clarifying the pl/sql features. Mister Feuerstein knows probably a lot about pl/sql, but not necessarily about software engineering. In short: It was not necessary to waste so many trees for the meager content of the book.Marco Mathematician / Computer Scientist
Rating: 
Summary: Exactly what I needed.
Review: I didn't give this one 5 stars because of the author's repetitive pontification on matters of style, which is basically preaching to the choir, and was a waste of dead trees. There were also some curious omissions, which were later rectified in his sequel (pun intended). However, this was exactly the book I needed to come up to speed on PL/SQL in a hurry. I use it heavily for reference now that I have learned enough PL/SQL to be really dangerous. The book is not quite as strong for that purpose, but it's better than the Oracle documentation on the subject.
Rating:
Summary: Book for the PL/SQL connoisseur !
Review: May be it is not the book for a person seeing PL/SQL for the first time. But this is one book close to my heart. Combined with Feuerstein's humor and distinctive style of writing and the O'Reilly stamp , this is one book which you would like to savour -- line by line -- Feuerstein has nuggets of info hidden away. Read if you have time to enjoy it ! Not really a book for fast reference. Also this book does not talk about database triggers .For a quick lookup, may be Scott Urman's (Oracle Press) PL/SQL book is better. I have both. But , if you're a serious PL/SQL programmer and looking for the finer points -- this book is an absolute must !
Rating:
Summary: If you're doing PL/SQL, this is THE book to have.
Review: I have to admit that I haven't read the whole book yet. In fact, I've only read the first four chapters. But I'm so impressed with the first four chapters that I figure I've already got my money's worth. I like to read a book cover to cover, every word. Many computer books are written in such a dry, choppy style that this is impossible. This book is a pleasure. I enjoy the humor, the real-life anecdotes and, of course, there's lots of technical stuff. What I like most about the book are the coding standards and "best practices" that appear throughout the book (well, at least the first four chapters). Most of the technical content of this book is contained in the Oracle on-line books--but without this extra insight and commentary the technical details just don't mean much. This book answers the "how do I use this?" and "why do I care?" questions. If you're doing PL/SQL, this is THE book to have.
Rating:
Summary: Confusing and Disorganized
Review: I found this book to be confusing and disorganized as a reference guide. Please just give us the syntax, samples and any helpful shortcuts and a useful index!
Rating: 
Summary: Too long for a quick start
Review: As a beginner to PLSQL, I have to read through a lot of material to find the things that I want to know. This book seems to be for intermediate programmers. But then it would be nice if some material could be dropped to get to the point. Too much time consumed reading unnecessary material.
Rating:
Summary: O'Reilly books...not for the technically challenged.
Review: O'Reilly publishes good reference books. I always look for one of their books first when I am looking for a book in a given subject area. No one book in their Oracle series has it all, though. Each book covers it's subject area in depth...just make sure you get the right book! If you like the "Whatever For Dummies" kind of books, then O'Reilly books aren't for you. My only knock is that there are more books in the Oracle series than is really necessary...marketing at it's worst! Some of the seperate PL/SQL related books should have been combined into one volume.
Rating:
Summary: The definitive PL/SQL source
Review: Feuerstein's books on PL/SQL are THE definitive source for comprehensive information on PL/SQL and Oracle in general. Not only do these books cover a huge amount of material, but any topic that is covered is covered in excruciating detail. It looks to me like the authors took great notes while they suffered through yet another partially implemented Oracle feature, and then turned these notes into books that make it possible for the rest of us to minimize the pain assocatiated with PL/SQL development. These books are written by developers for developers, so you'll see how to figure out why something that should work isn't working. I recommend all three books and I recommend the author's approach to programming. By the way, the indexes are better than most. This is a big help when you have a specific question. Finally, these books are appropriate for all PL/SQL programmers (new and experienced) because the books work well as both a tuturial and as a reference manual. In order to achieve both of these goals, there is a huge amount of material to wade through. But I know the answer is in there someplace, so the volume is worth it to me.
Rating:
Summary: Solid book, but not alot of depth
Review: I have found this book to be a good reference, especially as a quick reference. It is clear and concise. The examples and text however lack detail, as such when using something for the first time I prefer to use other texts that go into greater detail.
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