Jesse Liberty's Programming C#provides an adept and extremely well conceived guide to the C# language and is written for the developer with some previous C++, Java and/or Visual Basic experience.

It's no secret that many computer books are pretty much devoid of an authorial personality. This title is a winning exception. The author is able to weave in clever examples (using such topics as his own long experience in computing, his dog, Star Trek etc) without being coy or getting in the way of presenting real technical information. Liberty's wide experience in computers and general writing skill shows as he is able to draw on a wealth of examples to move his text forward.

These are a couple of goals at work in Programming C#. First, it's an excellent language tutorial, certainly one of the smartest and best available guides to C# as a language. Early chapters here explore basic and obscure language options using inheritance, delegation, interface, and the conventions in C# used to implement these techniques. The middle part of the book turns toward the .NET Framework itself, with two useful (and somewhat introductory) chapters on both Windows Forms and Web Forms, for stand-alone and Web-based applications, respectively.

Later sections crank up the technical knowledge again with several advanced topics on understanding .NET assemblies and deployment in detail, as well as "reflection" APIs that allow .NET programs to essentially modify their code at run-time. One technique, reflection emit, which literally writes bytecodes, will definitely interest expert readers, though it's unlikely most programmers will need to do this. Final sections look at the .NET stream classes (rivalled only by Java's for complexity). Liberty looks at basic file and network I/O as well as how objects get serialised and marshalled both for SOAP and Web services and "normal" .NET remoting.

The author's sure hand here in navigating the difficult waters of C# and .NET makes for a relatively concise text that is chockfull of useful information on C#. Filled with notably clever and inventive examples, this book is possibly this veteran computer author's best title to date, and it's sure to be a noteworthy resource as experienced developers tackle C# for the first time. —Richard Dragan

This is the rare case of a book that can take you from a beginner to an advanced-intermediate level. Like many of the books in IDG's Dummies series, this volume begins with a definition ("What is SQL?") and ends with "The Part of Tens," a collection of tips in a top 10 list form. Taylor writes in a breezy, entertaining style that SQL novices will find inviting. One caveat: the examples are given in Borland's Delphi, a rapid application development (RAD) tool. Some sections show several screen shots from Delphi and it may be difficult to follow along in these sections if you don't have the program in front of you. As with other Dummies books, SQL for Dummiesis entertaining to read although the nonstop jokes may distract some readers from the technical content. —Jake Bond

The Caucasus is a region that captivates writers. Whether it is Philip Marsden on Armenia or Neal Ascherson on the Black Sea, books inspired here rarely disappoint; now Stories I Stole, Wendell Steavenson's moving hybrid of reportage and bildungsroman set in Georgia, is the latest entry to this canon.

Steavenson's unusual title betrays the honesty which distinguishes her book. Leaving Time magazine for Tblisi is a strange career move, but Steavenson does not try to dress it up with false excuses; instead, revealing a world of poverty intertwined with drunken camaraderie and undiluted joyousness, her choice explains itself through her experiences. While her anecdotes are episodic, it becomes clear that this randomness is essential to life in Tblisi, where best friends may shoot each other, the electricity supply is as predictable as the political situation, and a person's humanity is judged by their ability to drink toasts into the morning—and survive.

With her training as a reporter, Steavenson's sentences are often curt, and she can describe places with long lists that mask their emotional atmosphere. However, this is more than compensated for by her honesty, the stark beauty of her evocations of landscape, and the sense that she has really penetrated the surface of Georgia. She writes with obvious love of this messed-up place and its people, and this is enough: "Georgia," she writes, "would make a fool out of anyone with the temerity of prediction. The best we can do is to respect our family, love our friends, open a bottle of wine, drink it, and then open another one."—Toby Green

In their excellent (and hefty) resource guide, The Baby Book,attachment parenting specialists William Sears and Martha Sears have provided new parents with their approach to every aspect of baby care basics, from newborns to toddlers. Attachment parenting is a gentle, reasonable approach to parenting that stresses bonding with your baby, responding to her cues, breastfeeding, "wearing" your baby, and sharing sleep with your child. For those parents who worry about negative effects of this attention, the Sears say, "Spoiling is what happens when you leave something (or some person) alone on the shelf—it spoils."

There's a world of grilled food out there, and Steven Raichlen seems to have wandered through all of it the State Department deemed "safe." No Afghanistan, for instance. No Iraq. But not to worry. Any decent conflict produces refugees, and nothing travels quite so easily as your own way with food. So Raichlen availed himself of restaurant cooks in this country where and when he had to—all to get right down to the meat of it.

"Barbecue," as Raichlen points out, is a confusing word in the U.S. because it means so many things, up to and including slow-cooked barbecue with its smoky aroma and succulent charm. The word stands in for the tool itself. It's an event. It's food. It's the style of cooking.

To set the record straight, 90 percent of Raichlen's recipes (there are more than 500, from drinks to appetizers to main courses, salads, and desserts, not to mention sauces and dry rubs) are for grilled foods—and that can mean cooked on a hot grill, a moderately hot grill, a relatively cool grill, or an indirectly heated grill (which is more like an oven than a grill, but that's another story). Raichlen gets into some barbecue recipes: pork ribs, for example, or beef brisket, or chicken. But the reader would be better advised to look elsewhere for instruction specific to barbecue (cooking for long periods of time with smoke at low heat). The results will be more appealing.

But grilling. Well, Steven Raichlen has a lock on grilling. This book is absolutely overwhelming it is so deep, so comprehensive, so far-reaching, so all-encompassing. This isn't one of those chefs with taste memories from a grill in Barbados, now let's try to jazz it up and be clever kind of books. No. This is a book by an author who squatted in the market in Vietnam eating whole grilled eggs dipped in a special sauce, and he gives you the recipe and the technique. You could go set up your own egg-grilling stand in a Vietnamese market with this book. You could open shop in Central or South America. Or North Africa. Or the Middle East. Or Korea. Anywhere food is grilled—be that meat, poultry, seafood, or vegetables—Raichlen's been there and brought home the goods. The real goods.

But there's another angle, too. Raichlen freely shares his travel experiences with you, making this a valuable travel book. And he freely shares his techniques, too, telling you exactly how he learned and all about who taught him. His book is worth it just for the section on salads and sauces. Start there and work your way from cover to cover. Hey, take all summer trying. You won't regret it. Your life will never be the same. You'll probably find yourself thinking that if one grill in the backyard is good, two is no doubt better. See? You're already on your way. Let Steven Raichlen be your guide. —Schuyler Ingle