Rating: 
Summary: The greatest, in the whole dot-Net panoply.
Review: Even if I don't use VB Net, I enjoy that book: a "just" view in comparisons between dot-Net and VB6 (not always at 100% in favor of VB.Net), and insight, intelligence, and inner working we don't even see often, if not at all, even in C# books! There are two major weak points: Windows Forms (I recommend Chris Sells' book) and database (I suspect Francesco didn't entirely wrote these chapters, as the style is a little bit different in those chapters than the other parts of the book, anyhow, my impression), again too superficial ( I somehow recommend the MS Press book ADO.NET by Sceppa). Even if I use C#, I often found that Francesco Balena did a much better job than what I find in other of my C# and Managed C++ reference books. NOW, my copy, of the first edition, has indeed a printed page number 1576. So why Amazon annonces 800 pages, I don't know. I would have give only four stars, but since I find very hard to find a book of my liking about dot-Net in general, I cannot than praise that book for an extra star.
Rating:
Summary: Great book
Review: As has been said this is not a beginner's book, but it covers it all. Since I am interested in ASP.Net, VB.Net forms apps, and of course ADO.Net, I was convinced that I'd need 3 or more books for decent coverage of these all. But Francesco does a good job with all of these topics. Thanks, it is a very well done book and proving quite valuable.
Rating: 
Summary: Great reference for all, best start for a VB6 programmer
Review: The book is excellent, but let me explain why I feel it fails to deliver. First off, if you are already a VB .NET programmer and you want a quick reference of near anything, you found your book. If you are an experienced VB6 programmer moving to .NET, this book will get you up to speed and writing excellent code VERY quickly. I fit neither of those categories. I joined a company out of college with only C/C++ and Java experience and my first project was a VB.NET project. I bought this book, since I figured such an exhaustive book would cover the entirety of the language and was at first satisfied, but as I reached the Windows Forms chapters (the ones most important to my job) I was very disappointed. VB.NET is a massive topic, and to save space the author frequently references his VB6 book instead of covering a topic in this one. The companion CD is supposed to have a copy of the VB6 book on it, but mine didn't. In particular, the controls reference is VERY short, as he says not much has changed in a lot of controls since VB6. That's great, but I'm disappointed to find that there are no real texts on the market that cover VB.NET for a new VB programmer. Had the book been on the CD, I would have given it 4 stars, but I still don't think it was wise to skim topics. So if you know VB6 well already, get this book, it will be great for you. If you are already proficient with C#, I believe you will quickly be able to learn VB.NET from this book. If you have no VB or .NET experience at all, it may be best to wait if possible until VB6 is more fully phased out and a better beginners' text has been written.
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