If you are an Architect or a Developer then I highly recommend that you read Application Architecture Guide from Patterns & Practices team at Microsoft. In recent years .Net Framework has grown tremendously to include technologies such as WPF, WCF, WF over the standard offerings such as ASP.NET, Windows Forms and BCL. How does one put all the pieces together? Do you even need all pieces for your solution? This guide provides useful guidance in making such decisions. The book is written in a to-the-point manner and is simple to understand.

As an architect I enjoyed reading the book. It served as a good refresher. I also feel that reading material such as Application Architecture Guide disciplines the thought process and provides structure. Of course the book does not teach you to be an architect. I am not sure if any book can teach you that.

You can Download the Guide in pdf format here.