>>>A book isn't going to do it. If you want to learn C#, you need a real project and force yourself to use it.
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>>True, that about force. I remember there were some languages where I had to force myself - let's see, the PDP-11 command language (sort of interesting, but hated it), Hayes codes for modems, ESC/P, the HP printer language, GwBasic (which was just plain fugly compared to GfA or even Spectrum or Spectrum Beta dialects), OPL for Psion and a few oddballs more. Even Cobol didn't require force - it was curiosity that led me into learning. I guess trying to learn Cobol now would require forcing myself, just like C# would. They're both too verbose - in Cobol you had to do all the work for the compiler (define all the variables and buffers, what with data types and lengths); in dot net you need to know the hierarchy of anything you want to use, and there's too much of it. Intellisense will get you the next name in the sausage, but you still need to know where the sausage needs to start. And you may be using a piece of abandonware at that.
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>When I think back on all the languages I've learned and used - there has never been force involved. I wanted to learn and played with them to do interesting things. First thing I did in c# was not a hello world - which is utterly useless - but a little loop to scale an image down and back up. Frankly it is all sausage! :)

As trivial as "hello, world" seems to be, it does have some importance in being the minimal program that does something.
* tests that you're able to enter the program into the system (especially important if you're not working in an integrated environment. And if it is an integrated environment that isn't monolithic, it does help verify that the individual components are interacting as expected)
* tests that make sure you're able to compile, link and run the program (perhaps not as useful in monolithic integrated environment, but is important when you've got multiple components and steps to deal with)
* make sure you're able to figure out where the output went (granted, nowadays it's often the monitor in front of you, but there was once a time where you had to figure out where your printouts were supposed to be retrieved. And of course, in VFP there is the beginner problem where a READ EVENTS was left out and person couldn't figure out why the program didn't seem to run)
* Even in GUI environments it's still useful to some extent -- can be the basis of program in which you explore the various means in which you can format output.

Much in the same way, certain programs such as Solitaire doesn't seem to be a very useful game (aside from being a diversion). However, it does help to serve as basic training in the use of a GUI -- certain key operations, such as navigating the menu, keyboard shortcuts, double-click operations, drag-and-drop, etc. are included in its operation.