[rating:5/5]

This book is fabulous – I wish I had purchased it earlier. I have recently returned to school in order to study computer programming as part of an effort to make a career change. The first classes on programming and VB.NET required that we use the HORRIBLE Deitel books (save your money on those). I was not able to take a VB course last quarter and have just started the next class. Our instructor recommended this book as a `refresher’ for what we have already covered and I’m really glad he did! (BTW, he’s also dumped the Deitel books because there were so many complaints). Not only have I already brushed up on the skills I’ve already learned, but the writing is clear, editing is wonderful, and (most important of all) everything makes sense! I’m also learning a lot of new things! I will certainly look for more books by this author – he has a talent for explaining things in an easy to understand manner and yet doesn’t talk down to the reader.
In response to some of the other reviews – no, this book probably wouldn’t be too useful to an experienced programmer but it wasn’t meant to be. For someone new to programming, however, I haven’t found another book that even comes close to this one – buy it today!