From Dave
When I first thought about writing Oracle in a Nutshell, I discussed it with a few people and excitedly sent an outline to Debby Russell, my editor for previous book projects at O’Reilly. Unfortunately, it turned out that Rick Greenwald had already submitted an outline for the same book. My disappointment was short-lived, however, when Rick invited me to work on the book as his coauthor. After all the grief and anxiety I have caused Rick with deadlines, content, format, and all the other details that are the responsibility of the primary author, he may by now regret his decision! But, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Rick for including me in this project. It was a lot of work, and I learned a lot from it. Thanks, Rick! I’ll try to make up for some of those sleepless nights!
There are many friends and acquaintances who have encouraged my work with Oracle, including John Beresniewicz, Buff Emslie, Steven Feuerstein, Jonathan Gennick, Steve Hazeldine, Ken Jacobs, Brian Laskey, Rich Niemiec, Matt Reagan, and Marlene Theriault. Special thanks also to my colleagues at Rhodia, including Claude Cohen, Deb Irwin, Dave Flood, Raphael Hevia, Joaquin Lucero, Paul Mars, Brian McMahon, Bin Pan, and Christian Tiberghien. I know I’ve missed a few others, but you know who you are.
Finally, I would like to thank my family for once again putting up with the “lost night” of researching, writing, checking, and editing.