Books you would recommend for sharepoint development

Hi experts,

I have been coding for more than 12 yrs using various microsoft technologies like vb, asp, .net etc ... Now I need to integrate a ASP.net application with sharepoint. The only exposure I have had to sharepoint is its document management capabilities i.e used it as a document repository for managing various documents of the project that was to be shared between various location. We used most of the inbuilt functions for the same.

We already have a asp.net application and I need to get answers to the following questions
1. Can I integrate my application into the sharepoint server so that I provide a link within sharepoint and the application opens within that sharepoint environment (not as a new window. I know how to the do that). The application must be opened within sharepoint
2. How to provide single signon? Our asp.net application has its own authentication using a login screen. I think sharepoint is tightly coupled with active diretory. So how to go about so that my users do have to sign on to my application if and when I provide the link I mentioned in point 1
3. I have heard about web parts and its use in sharepoint. Where I can i read more about this and on how to develop webparts
4. If the above is not feasible, how can i create custom pages within sharepoint that will connect to my database to show various reports or for that matter even take inputs from the user that has to be stored to my database. So the basic question is how is a connection established between a sharepoint page to the database? Can I use ADO.net
5. What is the latest version of sharepoint? What version of visual studio would you recommend for developing pages for your recommended sharepoing version?

So basically now you understand that I am beginner on this subject and I do not expect all the answers here. So I would really appreciate if you can recommend some good books that I can refer to get most of my questions above. I need to start somewhere and I am sure I will able to manage further. So what books would you recommend. Any links to web site would also be very userful

Thanks a lot in advance

RejoStart Free Trial