* Chapter 7, Oracle Shared Pool Internals: Oracle's shared pool is extremely complex and can have significant performance problems. The shared pool contains a large number of different memory structures, each with unique characteristics that must relate to potentially many other shared pool structures. In this chapter, I take a divide-and-conquer approach to ensure the problem is correctly diagnosed, and the related structures and algorithms are understood, so that the solutions naturally present themselves (really).

* Chapter 8, Oracle Redo Management Internals: Surprisingly, redo-related contention identification is straightforward, but finding solutions can be frustratingly difficult. We'll take this on by looking at the core algorithms, understanding precisely what the problem is, and knowing how to address it. As you'll find, some of the solutions are quite creative.

* Chapter 9, Oracle Performance Analysis: This chapter integrates all of the topics presented in this book. Having a deeper understanding of the problem gives you the ability to shift a reactive performance situation into a forward-looking solution. Personally, I think this is the most fascinating chapter, because it shows how to quantify the impact of your various optimization solutions both numerically and graphically (by creating response-time graphs for your system).