Locking/performance issues...suggestions?

[Bill Deibert]

I have a large MyISAM table with lots of inserts. Query performance ranges from acceptable to poor. We have the table partitioned by 2 fields - which does help performance (the acceptable ones).

When we attempt to summarize data from the table (insert into table x
select * from large_table) - even though the command is only reading from large_table - large_table gets locked and this stops inserts from happening. Will replication help with this problem (or will the replication server lock large_table on the slave).

I have inherited this situation (with almost no MySQL experience, good bit of db experience but not necessarily DBA)...any good books/recommendations on performance, backup strategies etc.

Is innodb a better choice then MyISAM?

Thanks,
Bill