Newbie's 1st Web App decisions!

[Scrumpy]

I want to learn Python for use in creating web apps and possibly to create 
stand-alone apps with wxPython.

To help you Python scholars understand my limited programming/scripting 
background I've;
1) Created apps within the following environments - dBASE IV, Lotus 
Approach 2 & MS Access (an old version) with limited use of their related 
languages and no standalone exes and;
2) Created/coded HTML4.01+CSS2 static freebie websites which included pages 
of formatted data created by merging HTML templates with CSV databases.

Mainly my background is in IT/Network mgmt.

I'm a quick learner (self taught from books and web-based info. and a Ye 
Olde college course ions ago!) and would like to get into Python web app 
development as quickly as possible, even though I have not yet written a 
significant line of Python code :)

There seem to be various projects which provide web app 
servers/components/development frameworks. Quite a few seem to overlap ;-) 
Here are one's I've looked at:
Slither http://slither.toolsofcomputing.com/
Webware for Python http://webware.sourceforge.net/
Skunkweb http://skunkweb.sourceforge.net/about.html
OSE http://ose.sourceforge.net/

There are also various projects which 'integrate' Python with 
Apache/AOLserver:
Mod_Python
Mod_Snake
PyApache
Cheetah
PyWX

It look like I'm spoilt for choice and it's hard to decide where I should 
direct my efforts.

As a side note, some of the comments made by Paul Boddie ( 
http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-list/2001-September/064133.html ) 
seem justified.

At the moment I'm considering using either Webware or Slither (not an easy 
choice) and/or Mod_Snake (instead of Mod_Python - but hey, I'm a newbie 
so...).

As far as books are concerned (a must) I'm thinking of buying
Web Programming in Python (this is written partly(?) by the folks from the 
Slither project).
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0130410659/qid=1017861581/sr=1-
3/ref=sr_1_3/104-5555059-2897528

and possibly
Learn to Program Using Python (in case I'm not as quick a learner as I 
thought, hehe)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0201709384/103-9771277-6190237

Webware seems to be one of the more respected projects and I get the 
impression that it improves the productivity/time to completion for people 
using it.

On the surface, Slither seems to cover more web app server bases than 
Webware. I am interested in persistance with backend db's but am more drawn 
to using Slither with mod_snake than mod_python. So far though, I have not 
found any independant info on Slither (and nothing at all on Slither with 
mod_snake) so input from users with experience of using Slither and Webare 
would be most welcomed.

What I would be most appreciative of, is your helpful suggestions on how to 
start in Python Web app development and on relevant books.

Finally (at last you cry!), although Zope is one way to go, as this is for 
me primarily a learning experience, I would prefer to stay closer to Python 
and 'perhaps' enjoy better web app performance. Zope does seem to be better 
suited for creating CMS apps but I am not creating a CMS app :)

Bows and leaves the stage,
Scrumpy :)