EvilZone

As a start Ubuntu is definetly the best. It's super user friendly and most of the problems you'll encounter will most probably have already been solved on the forums. You don't have to worry about drivers and so on. You can also try Debian though it's not as popular as Ubuntu. If you really want to learn about linux and do things the linux way, then I would recommend Arch. The arch wiki has a detailed article on how to install the base system and GUI. You'll learn a lot and will be able to solve prolems yourself after some time. Yet, as a start use Ubuntu just to get the feel of it.

for Young and Freedman, i have this pdf. don't know if ithis version is outdated but it is one hell of a book. Enjoy!