Rating: 
Summary: Clear, accurate, useful;
Review: I've read and am reading a lot of the .NET and C# related books and this one always proves to have the most understandable, clear and direct examples. The C# code on delegates, windows forms and even ADO.NET are a great way to start exploring this new platform. This book is a good read. The authors really know their stuff and they don't try to baffle you with unneccessary complication. They communicate rather than show off how clever they are. This book is easily worth more than some of the more heaveyweight tombs on the subject.
Rating:
Summary: Very clear and concise overview of programming in .NET
Review: If you are new to .NET, trying to figure out what to learn first can be difficult; you can find yourself wading through enormous amounts of technical information, examples, and web sites, and wonder if you've covered all the main subjects. That being said, this is an excellent introduction if you want to get a good overview and grasp on what the .NET framework encompasses, and all from O'Reilly, the first publisher that seems to have broken it down, understood, summarized and simplified it for its readership. You could read this book in a few hours and get a solid base in .NET, and also save yourself a tremendous amount of time spinning your wheels with other 1000+ page books, as rushed and as disorganized as they are.
Rating:
Summary: A lovely little book.
Review: It would be worthwhile for any architect or developer who is interested in working with .NET to read this book. In fact I would go one further and say that it would be essential reading. Its always a good thing when essential reading gets to be as enjoyable as this book is. A slim volume, by today's standards of computer books which by and large require winching from place to place with a crane. It comfortably complies with the received opinion that O'Reilly books being the best on the market, pound for pound. As an overview its second to none. Although the function of this book is to act as a primer, I found that some of the chapters were more than that. In particular the chapters on "Data and XML", "Web Services" (very good) and ASP.NET "Web Forms" were authoritative without falling into the trap of becoming dry and boring. All in all - I enjoyed it very much and learned tons from it.
Rating:
Summary: very thorough overview of .NET services
Review: My goal when I read "overview" books is to quickly figure out whether or not this tool/technology solves the problem at hand. Many books (java and XML most notably) fall short of this by not giving enough technical depth of the subject, and by providing little more than the "hello world" sample application. I can figure this out for myself. However, this book is plenty deep when it comes to explaining the facilities that .NET provides. This book addresses not just the new APIs with substantive examples, but it also addresses the .NET runtime environment and deployment details as well. It even goes under the covers of the ADO.NET and Web Services APIs and explains the underlying technologies (XML Schemas, WSDL, SOAP) to prove that this is not just another proprietary distributed application platform. This book is perfect for architects who are evaluating building a system with .NET, and developers who are interested in getting their feet wet with .NET technology. A wonderful book that presents the .NET core libraries in a straightforward way.
Rating:
Summary: very thorough overview of .NET services
Review: My goal when I read "overview" books is to quickly figure out whether or not this tool/technology solves the problem at hand. Many books (java and XML most notably) fall short of this by not giving enough technical depth of the subject, and by providing little more than the "hello world" sample application. I can figure this out for myself. However, this book is plenty deep when it comes to explaining the facilities that .NET provides. This book addresses not just the new APIs with substantive examples, but it also addresses the .NET runtime environment and deployment details as well. It even goes under the covers of the ADO.NET and Web Services APIs and explains the underlying technologies (XML Schemas, WSDL, SOAP) to prove that this is not just another proprietary distributed application platform. This book is perfect for architects who are evaluating building a system with .NET, and developers who are interested in getting their feet wet with .NET technology. A wonderful book that presents the .NET core libraries in a straightforward way.
Rating: 
Summary: A little bit to much theory maybe ...
Review: Not once will you catch Thuan L. Thai and Hoang Q. Lam on having a lack of knowledge in this book. Let me state upfront that this is at no point a weakness. I made just one important mistake; I bought this book too soon. After reading 'VB.NET and the .NET Platform' (which is no small task), reading this book became much, much more effective. Thereby indicating the weakness of this book: Difficult, and a little bit boring after a while. I know that saying a book is boring does not help my 'Helpfull vote' rating too much, though, I thought this is important for you to know. If you have a broad experience programming / explaining the .NET Framework and (for example) VB.NET, this little books suddenly and surely transforms into an extremely effective, highly informative, pedal to the metal book. But do NOT and I repeat, do NOT start with this book your Quest in exploring the .NET principle. You will, I am sorry to say, quickly lose interest and move on to another book.
Rating:
Summary: A good introduction, hard to read
Review: This book does a good job both as an introduction and in level of detail, however it is difficult to read. I just re-read the Web Forms chapter for very specific reasons and it was still a struggle to get through.
Rating: 
Summary: skimpy
Review: This book is just a very skimpy and cursory review of .NET concepts. It dwells on those topics which already have full chapters devoted to them in other books. Like many .NET books on the market today, it is just a poor attempt at being first. You will probably look it over a few times and bring it back to the store for a full refund.
Rating: 
Summary: Not very good at all
Review: This book is not very good at all. You could learn everything that it tells in other books that provide much more detail on every aspect of the .Net Framework. If you are interested in VB.Net, try "Moving to VB.Net" for ASP.net, try "Professional ASP.net". These books both explain all of the concepts introduced in .Net Framework Essentials and a lot more! Steer clear of this one.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent place to start
Review: This book touches on just about everything you need to have a full understanding of what .NET is. Although brief and to the point, it provides the big picture and gives a good springboard to delve deeper into the topics introduced here.
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