i feel as though learning linux through reading a book is like learning to drive a clutch when you've never set foot in a car. Set a small goal, like installing a program, or making your dvds not skip anymore, or changing to grub from lilo, and complete one goal at a time. there is no one easy way of learning linux, just learn as you go, but you have to go in order to learn. Use those books they told you about as a reference when you have a question. it is not until you are searching for an answer that you will remember specific information anyway. the 1st thing i recommend doing is looking at the directory structure of linux. examine where things are stored and why. it will help you to understand the inner workings of linux more than you know.
whitecracker