A disappointing effort for ORA. Being a database neophyte, I was continually frustrated by the superficial coverage of what I suspect are key db issues. Most of the difficulties I experienced with this book are listed in the "Unconfirmed error reports and comments from readers". Unfortunately, although the issues are reported in that document, they aren't addressed. This results in the book being, for the most part, a bright paperweight. Hopefully a second edition will be forthcoming and thorough.