If you *really* want to see and understand how it works, you may be interested in a project built pretty much just for that task,
Linux From Scratch (LFS). Not sure how n00b friendly you will find it, though, especially since you need a running Linux machine to build it on.
And just so you'll know, I prefer Debian but it's not for everybody. At work it is always SuSE and Red Hat. Everyone who has posted so far has some valid points, except for the Gentoo guys.
*dodges broken bottles and beer cans* I kid, I kid! ;-)
