Learning Oracle

I'm interested in teaching myself Oracle. I took a course in it... which was more of a general introduction to relational database design and theory... how to construct/normalize tables, etc.

We designed some very rudimentary databases (less than 7 tables) in the class using SQL and the command-line interface (nothing about front-ends at all). I really enjoyed the class and did well in it. But I'm wondering how to continue learning Oracle... where to begin? Anyone have books to recommend? Should I get a copy of personal oracle and come-up with a toy database project to work on?

I'm not a programmer (yet), but I'm very strong in logic and have had some very rudimentary courses in C, Pascal, etc. (my BA is in philosophy). And I do a small bit of perl/CGI scripting.

I'm wondering how to get into the field... or rather, how to start learning Oracle (and _what_ to learn... power objects? ANSI SQL? Where do I start?). There seems to be an overwhelming demand for Oracle people, and I love working with relational databases (so far).

Thanks in advance.

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-- 
|                  | "The greater part of what my neighbors call good         |
| Xochi Zen        |  I believe to be bad, and if I repent of any thing,      |
| x_at_apocalypse.org |  it is likely to be my good behavior" - H.D. Thoreau     |


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