Since I started as a programmer, I have hardly ever developed Windows applications. I mostly did web and components, GUI stuff is not my can of beans. That said, I do want to keep tabs on what's happening in with Windows GUI development, so I bought Programming Microsoft Windows Forms (a streamlined approach using C#) by Charles Petzold. I can tell you it was not the type of book I expected. What I expected was to learn how to build Windows applications, using a database and so on. Basically everything you need as a beginner to start developing full fledged apps. To my surprise the book is actually JUST about the GUI. There is the least amount of "clutter" of stuff that is not related to the GUI. In addition the whole book is setup so you can develop with just Notepad. The result is that the book has a very clear build up to how Windows Forms actually works. As such it was an enjoyable read for me.