* Chapter 1, Methods and Madness: This chapter is about how to approach firefighting from a methodical and holistic perspective. It builds the framework upon which this entire book is based, setting the stage for a massive infusion of diagnostic details and Oracle internals.

* Chapter 2, Listening to Oracle's Pain: Here, you learn how to diagnose complex Oracle systems with pinpoint accuracy. The material is based on Oracle's kernel instrumentation and response-time analysis using the latest Oracle capabilities.

* Chapter 3, Serialization Control: Locks and latches are a mystery to many, including the most seasoned Oracle professionals. And with Oracle Database 10g Release 2, Oracle introduced mutexes! Most DBAs feel there is little you can do when latching contention raises its ugly head, but this is not true. I have found that once you understand the general latch and mutex algorithms, and are equipped with knowledge of Oracle's memory architecture and algorithm internals, latch/mutex contention solutions become very apparent.