John Paul Mueller has written more than 300 articles and 80 books, most recently Mastering Windows Vista Business with Mark Minasi. The author of Ribbon X For Dummies, he has covered everything from programming to operating systems to home security and accessibility.

Introduction.
Part I: An Overview of LINQ.
Chapter 1: Getting to Know LINQ.
Chapter 2: Creating Simple LINQ Queries.
Chapter 3: Considering the .NET Language Extensions.
Chapter 4: Working with LINQ in Visual Basic .NET.
Chapter 5: Working with LINQ in Visual Studio 2005.
Part II: Using Standard LINQ to Technologies.
Chapter 6: LINQ to Object.
Chapter 7: LINQ to DataSet.
Chapter 8: LINQ to SQL Server.
Chapter 9: LINQ to XML.
Part III: Extending LINQ to New Horizons.
Chapter 10: Using LINQ with Office 2007.
Chapter 11: Advanced LINQ to SQL Server.
Chapter 12: LINQ to Active Directory.
Chapter 13: Other LINQ to Strategies.
Part IV: The Part of Tens.
Chapter 14: Ten Ways to Improve LINQ Development.
Chapter 15: Ten Ways to Reduce Application Support Costs.
Chapter 16: Ten LINQ Resources.
Index.

Link up with LINQ and see how you can query almost anything!
So you're the inquisitive type? LINQ answers your biggest query -- "Why can't I develop database and XML queries in a language I already know?" This book introduces you to LINQ and the .NET Framework technologies, so you can use LINQ to query any object, any dataset, any kind of XML, SQL Server, and more -- no questions asked.
* Connect with LINQ -- understand the tasks LINQ performs, declarative programming, and how to use LINQ in the real world
* Extend yourself -- examine .NET language extensions and work with extension methods, partial methods, lambda expressions, and query expressions
* Choose your language -- work with LINQ using C# along with Visual Basic(r) or Visual Studio(r)
* LINQ up -- LINQ to DataSet operators, SQL server operations, XML API, or Active Directory(r)
* Deal with databases -- download and install the Northwind database, generate Northwind entity classes, and create the Northwind XML mapping file
Visit the companion Web site at www.dummies.com/go/linqfd for all the source code you need
Open the book and find:
* How LINQ lets you create more efficient applications with less code
* An overview of the LINQ namespaces
* What to do with expression trees
* The four LINQ providers in .NET Framework
* How to use objects with LINQ
* What LINQ can do for the Visual Studio developer
* Techniques for getting information about your applications
* The easiest ways to access data