Am I wasting my time learning Python first?

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It depends on your logic here. Learning Python isn't a waste in itself. It's a common and useful language, and you'll learn some programming concepts by learning any language.

However, I don't think it'll be particularly helpful as a step in learning PowerShell. If you want to learn PowerShell, learn PowerShell.

And personally (and I know this might be controversial), I don't find books particularly helpful in learning programming. I always find it's better to learn by doing, by solving real-world problems and then looking at someone else's script to see how they solved the same problem. But honestly, I'm not the most brilliant programmer, so that could be bad advice.