After many, many, many long months of work, LINQ in Action is finally done!  Fabrice, Jim, and I are very proud of the final product and really hope you enjoy it.  We've already heard a lot of positive feedback from those who purchased the Early Access Preview from Manning, and are hopefull that LINQ in Action will be a valuable resource for everyone who is trying to add LINQ to their development toolbox.  My favorite quote thus far is from Ben Hayat on the LINQ in Action forums where he said "I had gotten other books on Linq, and this book is simply the BEST!".  Now for those of you who don't know Ben, it should be very clear that he's extremely smart and intelligent and you should believe everything he says, especially when it comes to what the best LINQ book is! :D 

Since the book is on the printers as we speak, it isn't yet available on Amazon for immediate shipping, however, I've been told it should make it's way over there in the next couple of weeks.  Given that, now is a great time to head over and pre-order it!  If you want the book sooner rather than later the best way to get it is directly via Manning's website.

To keep updated on the status of the book, including errata, code samples, or to ask Fabrice, Jim, or I any questions about our LINQ book you should drop by the LINQ in Action website or the author forums on the Manning website.

Matt Warren, who has been one of the lead developers on many aspects of LINQ, recently posted two very interesting stories describing The Origins of LINQ to SQL, and IQueryable's Deep Dark Secret.  In his first post on the Origins of LINQ to SQL, Matt talks about some of the previous dead projects, such as ObjectSpaces and WinFS, that influenced LINQ to SQL.  I found it interesting to hear about how LINQ to SQL came to be, and some of the internal politics that had to be overcome to make it a reality.  In his second post, IQueryable's Deep Dark Secret, Matt talks about how a call from Don Box eventually led to what is now at the core of LINQ, IQueryable.