All you Java mavens out there, I want to indulge. What book would you
recommend as the best, or one of the best, for someone familiar with
C/C++/VB6/VB.NET/C#, for learning Java?

I did some VJ++ in 1999 and worked on the then newly released JDK v1.2,
so I am already familiar with the basic framework.

And, more importantly, where's the whole gang, where's the happening
place for Java folks, like it is:

microsoft.public.dotnet.*
Channel 9
blogs.msdn.com/* (various .NET teams blogs)
VB Forums
Extreme VB
Code Guru
JoS/?dotnet

for .NET. Where's the party going on for Java stuff?

PS: Tell me only the best ones, like the K&R for C, the Mythical Man
Month for project management, GoF for Design Patterns, Jeff Richter's
Applied MS Framework Programming for .NET etc. Please tell me those
type of books for the beginner who has had exposure to other languages.
Some book that doesn't start with "what a for loop is", but relates
language concepts accross different languages so that one can compare
and limn the strengths and limitations of Java. Like, "Java does not
have a pre-processor" and stuff like that would be more helpful.