oh...as far as cost, cessna 172 (which is pretty much the gold standard) rentals run about $120-$150 an hour plus your instructor will run you anywhere between $40-75 an hour. the government mandates a minimum 40 hours of logged flight time before becoming eligible for a checkride...those are the minimums...i've only ever known 1 person in my life to do it in 40 hours. there is a lot of stuff to learn, and it's not like riding a bike.
you should really check out
www.aopa.org, there are lots of resources for people that don't know much about flying and are interested to get into it, as well as a ton of information about aviation today.