Rating: 
Summary: OK, but just a reference book for people who knows
Review: The authors pretend to present the book as a guide for learning; nothing further from the truth. This book is only for professionals and scholars and is just a reference guide. Some even say that it is not such a complete reference, but I believe it is OK. If the reader has not had exposure to relational theory and database design, this book is simply useless. In chapter 2 they present the reader with some relational database concepts, including Normalization. I can just imagine the face of a person who has never read about databases, a blank screen! For database students, teachers and professionals, yes, the book has value. But the topics are not well organized, they could have done better. For example: all query commands could have been discussed first, then all table creation + insertion + deletion, etc. Formatting could have been the last topic, just before administration.
Rating: 
Summary: Exhaustive and excellent book for starters as well as gurus
Review: This is an excellent book for learning SQL, SQL Functions, PL/SQL, ORACLE database structures like Procedures, Packages, Functions, Triggers, Tables, Synonyms, Views , Indexes and clusters . This book is highly recommended for ORACLE programmers (both:- who program in PL/SQL and ORACLE Dev2k) and starters. It explains SQL, SQL Functions ,PL/SQL , Procedures, Functions, Packages very exhaustively and also explains the database structures (which I mentioned in the first line) only to a limit required by an ORACLE programmer. The authors have done a stupendous job and the explanation offered never fails to enphasize the minute points which we tend to forget. Finally the recommendation:- If you are :- (1)An ORACLE programmer (starter as well as experienced) grab a copy of this book right now. (2)An ORACLE DBA , must for you as well but in conjuction with a book which covers ORACLE internals (the hardcore DBA concepts). (3)A jump starter , please find some other book as this one will make you a master but will take time too. (4)An OO programmer trying to evaluate new OO features in ORACLE 8 , its for you. (5)An OO programmer who is interested in just the OO features of ORACLE 8 then there might be some other books around as well.
Rating: 
Summary: Huge Reference, But of Very Little Value
Review: This book is huge, at 1344 pages it is huge. But not at all useful. Information is too darn difficult to find, and more often that not it is simply not there. I could not find anything on Dynamic SQL, and very little on SQL Load - something a supposedly 'Complete Reference' of Oracle8 should cover. Also, the absolutely paucity of examples makes it difficult to figure out correct syntactical usage without at least some trial and error. Use one if available at your company or library or if you can borrow a copy - just don't waste money buying one - new or used.
Rating:
Summary: Oracle8: The Complete Reference
Review: I loved this book back in its 7.0 version days. The first few chapters use an example from the 1700's, a business ledger. They use this example to explain how relational databases relate to a real world example. Great idea. But I agree with other reviewers that other books are needed to suppliment a beginner such as CJ Date's. Personally, I like Joe Celko's stuff. My problem with this book is my problem with Oracle in general. The book vomits features but many of the features discussed I can think of little practical use or I wonder why the RDBMS does do it automatically or why there is no GUI. The book makes no mention of Oracles lack of some SQL92 syntax such as OUTER JOIN syntax. This would lead a beginner to think *= is the standard. But its not. A beginner needs to understand the ambiguous results such syntax can lead to but the book doesn't mention this. See Microsoft Press' "Inside SQL Server 6.5" (or greater )for a nice disussion of this issue and solutions for working with *= syntax. Also much of the book is the same from versions published 5 years ago. But if you look at Oracle's software that's not too surpising since Oracle software looks like its about 5 years behind with its clumsy GUI's and rediculous on-line help. Half of the difficulty in using Oracle stems from its dated interfaces. Perhaps Oracle should just fix its DBA tools and then we wouldn't need such huge books. But if you think humans should serve machines or you don't feel like fighting the windmill buy this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Fantastic Book shame about the CD Rom
Review: I have found Oracle 8 'The Complete Reference' a worthwhile book and aid in my understanding of SQL and PL/SQL. It starts off at an easy pace explaining the fudamentals/jargon of Oracle and the SQL language and, at a steady rate, goes on to more advanced topics. The alphabetical reference is well laid out letting the reader know when a particular command is only available in Oracle 8 and has many examples to help the inexperienced SQL user understand how the syntax works. The only downside to the book is the accompanying CD Rom. It DOESNT INSTALL and I had to download, from the Internet, a patch in order too put the disk on my PC. Also the tables on the CD are in the same format as in the book so you still have to manually type them in, in order to use them.
Rating:
Summary: Bible
Review: This contains most of what you need to know to use Oracle8. It does not flow like a tutorial, but it isn't one (it is a reference). This is one of only a few Oracle books that I felt necessary to buy myself.
Rating:
Summary: A good 1-book reference
Review: You'll never find everything you want in one volume, but it's mighty handy to have a reference that covers most of the topics you need. This is not a tutorial. However, if you know some SQL and database concepts, this book will get you going on Oracle. There is a very good chapter on DECODE, and functions are covered well. I found the information on system catalogs useful, and I use the alphabetical reference all the time.
Rating:
Summary: Complete but not for all...
Review: It's a good book for all people who want to have a panoramic idea of "what is Oracle", but it's not complete for database administration. For many people who was already a DBA with a good Knowledge of SQL language , the book is more dispersive, and it's not focused on the basics information that a DBA want to know like users administration, backups and so on Finally it is a good book, for all novice people of oracle.
Rating:
Summary: LET'S BE CLEAR ON WHAT THIS BOOK IS AND WHAT IT ISN'T...
Review: ...First of all, this is NOT the book to use if you want to learn Oracle, or SQL. This is NOT the way to get your feet wet in database programming. However, if you are already a database professional, who needs a detailed, COMPREHENSIVE reference of Oracle's many features, functions, and capabilities, this is well worth the asking price. The CD documentation is not all that great, but the book's index is pretty thorough, so I'm willing to forgive that. Remember - this book is designed for the PROFESSIONAL.
Rating:
Summary: A must have reference on an Oracle DBA's bookshelf
Review: Yes, it's large and still incomplete, so is Oracle. I guess the title should probably be changed. But, that's what you get when working with such a huge, complex system - huge and complex reference manuals.
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