Rating: 
Summary: Pretty good book, bad binding.
Review: As far as the book goes, it was a great help as a foundation in Database Administration. Although the book is said to be for Oracle Beginners, there really is some prerequisite information required to not be totally lost. Some operating system info, general RDBMS info, even some actual Oracle concepts I might have found frustrating if I hadn't had some previous experience.All in all it was a very helpful read, although at times their explainations left a little to be desired. Eg, given output of a particular DBA view, the book was sure to tell us that X was wrong with the database, and the solution was Y. However, they could have included more insight into why X was the problem, and how they reached Y as the solution. The binding on the book left a bit to be desired as well, I have around 75 pages which fell out of the book, and it looks like more are on the way. Despite some small problems, I would definately reccomend this book to others.
Rating: 
Summary: A great book for beginers
Review: At last a book to help a person like me who is new to Database Administration. This book tells you what to do to keep the database running without any hiccups. I was a little disappointed with the Backup & Recovery section but overall this book covers what it takes to be a good DBA. I strongly recommend this book to all Oracle DBAs.
Rating:
Summary: beginner Oracle DBA
Review: Despite the title, this is not a book for the rank beginner. However, if you have a desire to be a Database Administrator (DBA) this is an excellent text on the scope of job. Clearly, you can't contain every situation in one book (not even Oracle tries that), but many of the "common" problems and situations are covered. It also serves as an excellent reference for the newbie DBA.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent (and funny) overview of "being a DBA"
Review: Despite the title, this is not a book for the rank beginner. However, if you have a desire to be a Database Administrator (DBA) this is an excellent text on the scope of job. Clearly, you can't contain every situation in one book (not even Oracle tries that), but many of the "common" problems and situations are covered. It also serves as an excellent reference for the newbie DBA.
Rating:
Summary: beginner Oracle DBA
Review: Good book for a starter. I have SQL 2000 exp and wanted to get a quick overview. Could have added a chapter on installation and tools installation ? Oracle installation has always proved to be a dog on Windows environment.
Rating: 
Summary: Not for beginners
Review: I agree with some of the other reviewers in that it starts out with very basic(OS concepts, disks, etc.) and immediately delves into intricate ,complex detail. It tries to illustrate too many concepts by scripts, which is assuming the reader is a proficient PL/SQL programmer. I found myself having difficulty following the concept because I couldn't understand the pages and pages of scripts. I could see that the scripts would be helpful later on for daily administration. Also, it would help a lot if there were more drawings to illustrate ideas.
Rating:
Summary: Not for beginners
Review: I agree with some of the other reviewers in that it starts out with very basic(OS concepts, disks, etc.) and immediately delves into intricate ,complex detail. It tries to illustrate too many concepts by scripts, which is assuming the reader is a proficient PL/SQL programmer. I found myself having difficulty following the concept because I couldn't understand the pages and pages of scripts. I could see that the scripts would be helpful later on for daily administration. Also, it would help a lot if there were more drawings to illustrate ideas.
Rating:
Summary: Oracle DBA 101 by Theriault, Carmichael & Viscusi
Review: I am a newbie with 6 months of on-the-job experience. Had I had the book when I started, my hair would not be grey today. This is an excellent book that could be subtitled "A hitchhiker's guide to the Oracle DBA galaxy". It is a well-designed book that describes the DBA world, and the tasks necessary to keep one's databases humming. It is well written and keeps the reader's interest. A high compliment indeed for a technical piece of literature. This book should be on every new DBA's bookshelf!
Rating: 
Summary: Not recommended for a newbie
Review: I bought this book to use as a guide to beginning to learn Oracle. The first chapter was great but that's all I can say about it. I have a little database experience but was still very confused and frustrated by chapter 3. Haven't even been able to use it as much of a reference, either. I'm going to try to trade it in, probably for a text that comes with a CD. I, too, was VERY disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Please don't buy this if you're brand new to Oracle!
Review: I chose this book because it claimed to be written for complete beginners. It lulls you into feeling completely comfortable with chapters on how the authors really want to help others through the rough early stages and then, pardon the language, all hell breaks loose. Almost as soon as it starts into the technical aspects, it will jump way over your head. Although I finally understood the first several chapters, I tossed the book aside when I realized I had to read and reread most of it, which, as an overworked Systems Engineer, I just don't have time for. Now that I've gleaned some knowledge of Oracle, I use it as a secondary reference for commands and such. Please do yourself a favor and look for another book if you need to get up to speed quickly and easily.
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