Software?
Download 9iIAS
9i R2 db
9i developer's suite
there's so much to download

Do a lot of work on the machine, try to get a good machine, make several partitions , install win2k,xp, linux, solaris on it and then install oracle on each platform and use the 9i sample shema's to excecize what you read in the books.
Buy this book
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...er#reader-link

and download oracle pdf manuals.

There are a lot of books selling the same stuff so don't just go buying anything on the market.

Why i said download the other software as well is because you just cannot be a dba these days, learn what ever that you can.

Visit frequently the

asktom.oracle.com ,http://www.jlcomp.demon.co.uk/ jonathan lweis's website, http://www.ixora.com.au/ that's where steve adams post's his stuff and also the dbasupport forum .In my opinion these 3 people are enough to impart whatever there is to learn oracle.