This book is a great resource for the new or experienced DBA. With so many configuration options and infrequently used features it is nice to have one source for all of this information.

Also, the CD which accompanies the book makes carrying the book and searching it much faster.

Very bulky, Really covers a great deal. Not good for new programmer who wasnts to learn Oracle from Scrach.

This book is excellent to know the basics of the Oracle 10g Administration, as its name says, is a complete reference about the whole database software, includes a big part of PL/SQL and complete chapters about tuning tips and security, It's a must for an Oracle DBA, but I put only 4 stars because I think Lonely tried to cover a lot of things in this book, and obvious, it only mention the keys for eache point; and if you want the complete solution for one topic, you need to consult other resureces like OTN. Whatever, is an excelent reference.

Price about $20 less than Borders. Like the book says "it is a complete reference". Very helpful.

This is the best book about Oracle 10g I have ever used. It can be read from one end to the other getting comprehensive knowledge of Oracle features. Or you can use it as a reference looking up just in one chapter. Each chapter is independent and clearly explain about the topic in such a manner that you can easily understand it even if you have not read the rest of the book.

I would say this is a must have book if your going to use Oracle 10g. As some one else said it is not a book about configuration, it is a book about the features.

I purchased this book as a reference to O-R features in Oracle. Loney covers O-R features in about 4 chapters or so. I thought the coverage provided a good introduction, but lacked the depth I expected. I found more methods and details in the Oracle online reference manual.

I have used Kevin Loney's texts, both the Reference and the DBA editions on Oracle database from the heady Oracle 7 days and have found them to be most acurate, complete and exceptionally easy to use and to quickly locate required materials. The examples given are very clear and they work!
The 10g texts are remarkable in their coverage and clarity. Many thanks Kevin and keep up the good work !

The book speaks on most of the database issues that can come up when using Oracle. It is more of a Reference manual instead of going to each topic in detail. This can be useful when one wanted to quickly get the relevent information.

With a 1200+ page book, entitled "The Complete Reference", I would have expected much more information about proper configuration. Properly configuring Oracle (I'm running it on Unix) is no trivial matter and I found this book to be severely lacking. While it seems like a good reference to have (hence 3 / 5 stars), it looks like I'm going to have to look for other resources.

With a 1200+ page book, entitled "The Complete Reference", I would have expected much more information about proper configuration. Properly configuring Oracle (I'm running it on Unix) is no trivial matter and I found this book to be severely lacking. While it seems like a good reference to have (hence 3 / 5 stars), it looks like I'm going to have to look for other resources.

This sounded like a good book, judging by the reviews here, but being relatively new to the Oracle world, I haven't found this book terribly useful so far. Oracle's docs have been much more helpful and detailed. I was hoping for a book that shared the author's experience and tips and helped the reader make decisions, but this seems to be largely a command reference, covering many topics superficially.

This is a complete and comprihensive book. Has helped me understand various topics of 10g. It great for new as well as experienced Oracle users/ developers/ DBA.

As a DBA who travels around the country constantly, my main reason for purchasing this book was the CD-ROM which claims to contain a copy of the book in pdf format along with code examples. Imagine my surprise when I found the included CD is blank. The book is for the office, the CD for the road. Osborne needs to get their act together. I haven't a clue how to get a good CD without returning the book.

B.F. is right-on about the missing diagrams. While Kevin Loney's "Oracle 10g DBA Handbook" is excellent because it is diagram packed, "The Complete Reference" is not complete without them. I bought Mr. Loney's DBA book and love it, but his Complete Reference was passed over. I think it would be more marketable & useful if "The Complete Reference" were broken up into two volumes: "10g The Complete Reference: For DBA's VOL. 1" and "10g The Complete Reference: For Programmer's VOL. 2" and published in hardcover editions.

The title says it all. Well there's one additional tidbit of information that's important, there are 1200 pages in this book. In 1200 pages you can include a lot of things. You can include 300 pages on SQL for instance. And some of the new subjects like the new sections on The Grid (that's the g in 10g) are covered here for the first time.

The Grid is coming, as of yet it's just getting started, but in the next edition of this book it'll be a hundred pages, if it isn't a whole book in itself.

As an Oracle professional, at almost any level from developing an application, to tuning the performance, to security, to 'simple' things like installation, this is the one book you need to have on your desk ready for immediate use.

After this, it's kind of hard to say much about this book. You may want individual books on tuning or security or whatever if that is your primarily responsibility, but here in one volume is the basic for the whole thing.

As a newbie to Oracle, I found the book easy to follow throughout the chapters. Each time digging in more complex matters. This was a great help!

I have many of other Oracle 10g books but I think this is best Oracle 10g book on the market it is well-written and comprehensive.
Thanks Mr Loney

It didn't seem possible that Mr. Loney could surpass the excellence of his previous books, but I have found "10g: The Complete Reference" to be the most comprehensive and well-written Oracle book on the market today. Most of 10g's new features are complex and can be misapplied if not understood thoroughly. Mr. Loney provides DBAs and developers with clean, concise writing and relevant examples that allow developers and DBAs to exploit the new features of Oracle 10g quickly and appropriately. The beginning sections on Oracle fundamentals should be required reading for all Oracle professionals. His wealth of experience is evident throughout the book. Indispensable for anyone serious about developing or managing Oracle databases.

For those who have seen the prior editions of this book:

The new version is 47 chapters plus the Alphabetical Reference. New chapters include:
Installing Oracle 10g
Upgrading to Oracle 10g (from 9i)
Using the regular expression functions (REGEXP_LIKE, REGEXP_SUBSTR, REGEXP_INSTR, REGEXP_REPLACE)
Using Virtual Private Databases
Using DataPump Export and DataPump Import
Using Flashback Version Queries
Flashback Table (via the Recyclebin)
Flashback Database
Writing dynamic PL/SQL
Case Studies in performance tuning
10g AS
RAC
Grid Management

Additionally, the older chapters have been revised to include coverage of features such as ASM, the Quick Tune options, dynamic memory management, new functions and commands, datatype changes, data dictionary changes, and much much more.

-Kevin Loney.