It's interesting that most books are bits and pieces and tips and tricks about SQL tuning. There seems to be no book about a systematic approach to writing and tuning SQL code. The closest book is Dan Tow's SQL Tuning I like the approach and have used the ideas as a basis for the Visual SQL Tuning diagrams in DB Optimizer: http://sites.google.com/site/embtdbo/sql-tuning-1 though the approach is for finding good execution plans, not writing good SQL, and does leave out a lot of the important tips, tricks, bits and pieces you'll find in other books. Plus there is a lot of room to extend these ideas farther to more problematic SQL BTW, I highly recommend, for super solid, up to date information on Oracle performance Christian Antognini Troubleshooting Oracle Performance Best Wishes Kyle Hailey PS On the subject of SQL Tuning, it's also worth checking out Stephane Faroult's The Art of SQL Listers, > > I've been working as a physical DBA for a long time and have developed my > instance tuning skills rather well. However, I want to direct my career to a > more comprehensive type of DBA and was wondering if there were any books on > query tuning, both oracle specific and general 'good practices' you could > recommend. > > Thank you very much. > Alan.- > > >