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What are the most recommended web development books? I'm interested in picking up a book on JS, ASP.NET, PHP, Desktop Languages(c#, c++ etc.). I'm looking for something that is not only descriptive and very helpful with explanations and is enjoyable to read(meaning maybe they joke around a bit or something to make it not so boring and aggravating where I just want to throw it out the window then go and drive over it). Well, what books would you recommend?

I wouldn't recommend books. It is easier by watching tutorials from YouTube or anywhere else.
I learned VB.net and C# from YouTube tutorials.

The only programming book I ever bought was this and it's great. I would suggest any Head First books because they fit your requirements perfectly.

I disagree on not learning from books vs. youtube. Books: Permanent reference, Youtube: Transient and only good when you actually have Internet connectivity. I do much of my programming when I'm offline. Books are also much easier to reference for specific things. You simply look 'em up in the index and have the exact page. While you can often do this by googling as well, the benefit of the book is that if needed you can read the entire chapter and related references.

As for good books? These are what I have (No, this isn't limited to Web Dev books, nor is it my complete list):
Beginning PHP5
Professional PHP5
Beginning Regular Expressions
Beginning PHP5, Apache, MySQL Web Development
Beginning Ruby on Rails
Professional C# 2008 (I actually have the 2k5, but linking to the newer one)
Sam's Teach Yourself Series (I have many many books in this series)
Perl, CGI, and Javascript Complete

Most of those you can buy used for $0.01 + S&H. Good luck.

Thanks everyone. I'm thinking of these books:

• http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...0G80608934
  
• http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...0N404A8372
  

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I chose and purchased the follow books:

• http://www.amazon.com/Learning-PHP-5-Dav...0596005601
  
  
• http://www.amazon.com/SEO-Search-Engine-...0470452641
  
  
• http://www.amazon.com/Head-First-Rails-L...0596515774
  

I would recommend any of the "Sam's teach yourself" range

Any of the "For Dummies" books are good.

for c++ >> http://www.bookbyte.com/product.aspx?isb...ium=search

(2011-10-26, 11:26 PM)Jason L. Wrote: [ -> ]I chose and purchased the follow books:

• http://www.amazon.com/Learning-PHP-5-Dav...0596005601
  
• http://www.amazon.com/SEO-Search-Engine-...0470452641
  
• http://www.amazon.com/Head-First-Rails-L...0596515774
  

I absolutely hated the first one of those
I stood in Barnes & Noble reading a bit here and there and I just hated the whole layout of the book.

Get anything Wiley. I learned most of what i know from Wiley books. They are the abosolute best brand of books you can buy. In my opinion. I haven't tried them for outside markup, but i'd assume their structure is the same. I just loved the structure of them.