Winsock QUERIES

Hi All,
I would like to know how can I access a windows port for accessing it (maybe read the data on that port or write data on that port). for e.g if i have to read data on port 51999 on the local machine (192.168.1.23) can i access the port as
192.168.1.23:51999.
I have got myself a Windows Sockets Network Programming by Bob Quinn & Dave Shute. It hardly mentions anything about these ports (51999, 60001 etc). Where can i get the info as to what all ports are availble for me to program to.
My Thanks in advance for help.

I believe there are 2^16 ports.