Dan Appleman is one who hates books that are a rehash of the supplied documentation. Not only does he express this opinion, he's done something about it. This book is less about VB.NET syntax and more about how and why things work the way they do in .NET. Much, much more. He provides advice on when to use certain features that are now available to the programmer, and more importantly, when *not* to use them and why (such as inheritance, and multi-threading to name a couple in-depth topics presented).
VB.NET is not simply an upgrade to Visual Basic 6, but is a new language. The COM/COM+ worlds are left behind, the .NET world is a new and exciting place that opens up a myriad of new possibilities for the VB developer. Dan does an excellent job in pointing out the differences, bringing the reader into the new .NET world. And he has the rare talent of taking very technical topics and explaining them so that we can easily grasp the concepts.
This is not an introductory book, and is not for the beginner. This book is written by a very experienced VB developer for experienced VB developers.
Don't take the plunge into the .NET world without first reading this book! The book is worth its weight in platinum.