I got into a situation a couple years ago, where I wanted to understand how relational databases worked. I mean how they really worked. Down to the algorithms

I got into a situation a couple years ago, where I wanted to understand how relational databases worked. I mean how they really worked. Down to the algorithms and processes that implemented query parsing and ACID - purely so I could try and toy around with implementing some OLAP stuff on my own, without all the 'overhead' of the rest of the database (at the time I didn't really care about transactions or query optimization). I ended up getting into a pile of papers so deep I thought I would never escape, and eventually gave up. I even ordered a thick book that was a collection of papers, tying it all together. Some of the papers on the subject - the groundbreaking ones by folks like Goetz Graefe - were brilliant and very interesting reads, but at the same time were so involved I felt like I would need to dedicate years before even scratching the surface. Walking away, I did learn to see the difference between good papers and bad, and learned a heck of a lot on DB internals (good through the end of the 90's at least). But I think I'll stick with books from now on :)