Tales of the Oak Table

Now I know that not everyone who reads this blog is an Oracle user – hey, my background is predominantly DB2 – but this book is a good read regardless of which DBMS you use. The book isn’t really a tutorial and you are not going to learn how to program SQL or design a database by reading this book. Instead, the book offers insightful essays on various topics.

For example, I thoroughly enjoyed Dave Ensor’s opening chapter on the history and evolution of the Oracle database software. The history presented by Ensor is not complete but it seems, to me at least, to be unbiased. It is not a history of Oracle, the company, but of the Oracle DBMS. His perspective on features and functionality, good and bad, is an entertaining read and can be enjoyed by database folks of all different creeds.

Most of the other chapters – or essays, if you will – are engaging and entertaining, as well. Tim Gorman’s chapter on the worst project he ever worked on is (hopefully) not something you will be able to relate to – at least not completely. But I expect everyone will recognize at least parts of what he experienced in portions of their own work history. And I enjoyed the chapter on BAARF – which stands for the Battle Against Any Raid Five (the author even states it further can be the Battle Against Any Raid Free, Four, or Five). You gotta read it to appreciate it.

And any DBA will be able to appreciate Gaja Vaidyanatha’s chapter on Compulsive Tuning Disorder. And that is because many of us DBAs have this dread disease. Even though he concentrates on specific, technical Oracle tuning details, the concepts discussed in this chapter can be readily extrapolated to any database environment using any DBMS.

There are lots of little nuggets of wisdom spread throughout the book, too. I think my favorite comes from Mogens Nørgaard’s chapter where he quotes Cary Millsap: “If you see a pile of 1000 rocks, all of them gray except one, which is red, and you know the total weight is 1000 kilos – how much does the red one weigh?” Think about that one. If you want to know the “answer” and why it is important, you’ll have to buy the book.

So, what is the deal with the title of the book? Why Oak Table? According to the Oak Table web site, The Oak Table network is a network for the Oracle scientist, who believes in better ways of administering and developing Oracle based systems. It is basically the name these Oracle experts have given to themselves collectively and the book explains how that name came about.

This unique book is a fun read – and an easy read because each chapter is self-contained. I’m sure if you work with databases of any kind, Oracle Insights: Tales of the Oak Table will entertain and educate you.