Rating: 
Summary: Aptly named, a boon for beginners
Review: This book from Stephen Walther has got everything right, especially for beginners. I wish I had seen this book a little earlier. The first part on Creating Web Forms is written very well. It neither scares the beginner nor does it bore him. Most book authors don't realize that beginners are only looking for a simple book through which they can gain confidence. The language in this book is simple and whereever the author uses sophisticated technical language he explains it. Very good book if you are looking to learn ASP.NET using Visual Studio.NET (doesn't matter if its C# or VB.NET route, code is written in both.). One other good thing is that the author takes you step by step because we all know that one cannot learn programming by reading but only by programming.
Rating: 
Summary: a good introduction to ASP.NET
Review: this book is good for the introduction to ASP.NET. needless to say its arrangement is clear and direct. the examples are short but adequate to highlight the essential coding for the features.
well, i don't want to digest any example with large codings except in case study. although the book comes with no cd-rom, and the diagram on P. 273 is incorrect (maybe more), i still recommend this book. i'm on the way to build a content management website based on the knowledge learnt from this book. if you want to learn more features, pickup ASP.net Unleashed by the same author.
Rating:
Summary: Good intro with exceptions
Review: This is a good introduction into .Net and it gets deep into abilities so it will be a good reference. The only criticism I have is the author's overuse of Visual Studio objects. While they work fine in simple applications, programmatically building your objects (rather than dropping them onto your application) gives you much more control and speeds up program execution. It would have been beneficial if he would have showed both processes (object and programming based) instead of only the simple approach. However, it is still a good intro and I would recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book!
Review: This is a great book. It is quick and to the point. The examples are focused and short, describing a toolset you can use to build pages. However, it assumes you understand VB.NET and data websites. Certain steps you are asked to code are not particualary well documented, so it is not for beginners. It assumes you will be using Visual Studio.NET to build your site. I am new to Visual Studio and this book makes the power of that product very clear, sort of like moving from a hammer to a hammer-gun. It does not spend any time expaining why .Net is better, or run down the feature set of the .Net framework, or teach code writing. Instead it simply shows you how to use the .NET tools in the real world, the advantage becomes obvious if you have experience with classic ASP pages. I read the Wrox book on Beginning ASP.NET yet after 600 pages I still couldn't do anything meaningful, I was baffled as to why one would really make the effort to learn ASP.NET. I wish I had started with this book first. Other stuff: The page layout in nice and clean, and the writing is easy to read and understand. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: No nonsense, clear as a bell
Review: Why can't all computer books be written like this one? It's so cleanly written that you'll probably be able to follow it without any problems at all. You'll find no "Dummies"-style attempts at humor here, or other digressions taking up space. He tells you exactly what you want to know, provides a simple example you can play along with, then moves on to the logical next step. This book does make for some pretty dry reading if you're not sitting in front of your computer running Visual Studio .Net. Here's how just about every page reads: "You can do <such-and-such thing> with your web form, by merely <clicking here and there>. For example, say you have a site that needs to <such-and-such>. You would do <this>, then <that>. Let's try an example. Do <this> then do <that>, then run your page. It will look like <this figure>. Then he moves on. It's a clean, simple, constructive way to teach. This book does not take you through a single mockup of an application all the way through (at least not yet, I'm not done with it yet). Rather, each section works on a separate, unrelated pretend application. I thought I would find this difficult, but I actually prefer it, because it keeps the examples so clean. Before tackling this book, I recommend reading a little .Net background elsewhere, and perhaps a C# primer if you feel you need one. All code examples are in VB.Net as well as C#. I'm going to quit writing now so I can get back to it. It's that good.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book!!
Review: Without a doubt one of the best books on asp .net for quick learning and clear examples.
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