I bought a 400d a couple of months ago and am still slowly learning. A book that seems to be often recommended is Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson.
If you are serious about learning taking great pics I would pick up a copy.
Completely agree with Pugwash about the macro, extension tubes are cheap and let you get really close without spending lots of cash.
I have a pdf of the above book (not a great scan but readable) and a video that I found helpful explaining how to get into manual mode, if you are comfortable downloading it feel free to pm me.
I am surprised to say I don't miss the liveview thing, I really thought I would, I can see how it might be useful for macro work, but you just don't hold a Dslr the same way you hold a point and shoot while taking normal pics.
A friend has the E410 and its a really nice camera, the kit lenses look really good quality.