Tom Kyte is of a rare breed. To begin, he`s technically expert in his subject (administration of and development of applications for Oracle database management systems). What`s more (and what distinguishes him from the ranks of the supercompetent), he is both able and willing to share his considerable store of wisdom with Oracle users via books like Expert One on One: Oracle. Perhaps the best book about Oracle products ever put out, this book is a model of all aspects of technical publishing: scope, level of detail, clarity of explanations, and quality of examples. It`s pretty much certain that you will learn a great deal about Oracle from Kyte`s work, and that you`ll become more capable in your work as a result of studying this book. Kyteit`s very tempting to call him an Oracle oracleseems not to have had to struggle to fit his message into the Wrox Press form, which relies on a running commentary interspersed with code listings and conceptual diagrams. Kyte`s commentary is eminently informed and packed with references to the differences between that which is ideal and that which often must be done to accommodate reality. He takes care to explain how littleknown pieces of the Oracle environmentand alternative ways of looking at the more familiar onessolve problems, an approach that leads to elegant, efficient solutions. Kyte boosts his readers across the chasm that separates people who can write applications for Oracle databases from people who understand Oracle databases. David Wall
