Jason,

I think it all depends on what you really want to get out of your C++ learning experience as to what types of books to get to "backfill" knowledge. I "feel your pain" to a degree, particuarly around learning C++ as I embarked on that path several years ago as well, probably for the same unmentioned reasons you did I hope I'm not insulting your level of experience with C++ in the recommendations I'm about to give, and if I do, my sincerest apologies.

I have a copy of Thinking in C++ Vol I (actually i originally printed the book from his website), but after a slight mishap in binding the over 300+ page doc, I settled with buying a paperback copy. Quite frankly, the book bored me to tears. But I think it was mainly because I wanted C++ in my toolbox NOW, not later (patience, young Skywalker). If you're looking at shapening your skills with ATL, I'd recommend you get Begining ATL COM by Wrox Press and ATL Internals by Brent Rector and Chris Sells. And there's always the COM "bible", Effective COM, by Don Box.

If MFC is your cup of tea, then I'd suggest you get copy of Introduction to MFC Programming with Visual C++ by Richard Jones. The book serves as a fairly good reference into MFC programming and has some decent examples/exercises to give you a good foundation.

Now if you want a more "broader" and "generic" (ANSI) C++ background, I'd suggest you look into Effective C++ and More Effective C++ by Scott Meyers (a C++ Guru and well known and respected in the industry)

Hope this helps. Good luck on your journey.

Tell me about it :-(

I started into C++ with ATL. Actually "forced" to because of project requirements at the time. But I have always been intrigued by MFC, primarily because a lion share of commercial software that ships for Windows is written in MFC and it doesnt seem like it's going away and it generally seems like a "fun" framework to work with. However, unless you work for a product company it seems, learning MFC is a waste of time, especially with many enterprises are gravitating towards the web and the fact that MFC doesn't necessarily promote the RAD nature of development expected in the enterprise (as VB6, VB.NET, and C# currently give you).

I've wrestled with trying to resume my MFC self-teaching, but with .NET coupled with the fact that I'm not developing "shrink wrapped" software, it seems like overkill or some sort "misdirection" in learning goals.