What is the best way to Learn Linux fast?

install Arch

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Install it
Use it
& a lot of reading.
If it breaks try to fix it without reinstalling.

the best way is to use it, solve problems, practicing, but I think first you need a goal (what do you want to achieve at all?)

Try to answer as many qns here (LQ) as possible

0. Quit procrastination.
1. Install Arch Linux.

Why not Slackware. You have to do even dependency management manually so you MUST know what is installed on your system and thats the way to learn linux. Arch baby sits the user a bit too much.

Well Linux From Scratch is also a good way to know the internals of Linux.

Define "fast"

EDDY1 has given the best advice so far. Use it and read. There is no magic to speed up learning. It depends on how much you want to learn and how quickly you try to learn it. The more you read and experiment, the more, and quicker, you will learn.

I disagree with jumping in at the deep end. There is no fast track to "learn linux". There are fast learners and there are slow learners and as peoples' brains are often wired differently, there are certainly many different ways to learn... not all of which are suitable for everyone.

Go for an easy "beginners" distro or just any complete distro, install it and get familiar with it, then start fiddling around...

I agrre with caravel on the easier installing the easier distros to learn.
Idon't think arch is for the beginner though, as you have to manually setup partitions, set mount points & linux partition schemes are different from windows. It took me about 2 days to learn how to install arch & I've been using linux for over 2 1/2 years.

YES!

NO!

Same here. You should learn in manageable chunks, which means starting with a beginner friendly distribution (probably Ubuntu).

Work with indirect goals: Most people can't reach the goal of "learn Linux" by aiming at that goal. Instead you should set a goal of "Learn how to use Linux for activity X", and once you reach that goal, repeat with a different X.

The first X is easy to choose and easy to achieve: Learn how to use a browser within Linux and to access LinuxQuestions within that browser.

After that, how you select the next X depends on your interests and abilities, not on anything fundamental about learning Linux.

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That is your personal opinion with which I disagree.
Arch will force the user to quit procrastination +
A spoon feeding distro can't teach much, IMO.

-EDIT-
It also depends on the "aim".
Example: I didn't install Arch since my aim wasn't to learn Linux.
My aim was to learn C/C++/Qt. I installed Suse (quickly), and am now focusing on my aim.
Similarily if the aim is to learn "Linux", then IMO beating around the bush will only
delay the learning.

I would rather suggest to define "learn".

Depends on what you want to learn. If you want to learn how to use linux, just use it. After all using an OS in not about learning it, but about getting used to its specificity.

If you want to learn the internals of linux and how it works, then as suggested try to install Arch, Slackware, or even Linux from Scratch.

This is all about perspectives. From mine a distro which has some kind of package management and dependency resolution is suitable for beginners, to many this is clearly not the case.

Arch, Slackware, Debian and Gentoo are certainly not beginner distros, but they're also not as hard to set up as something like e.g. FreeBSD... on the whole over the last few years most distros have gotten easier to install, but it's the post install configuration, set up and customisation which is where noobs often come unstuck. You may not remember how it was to be an absolute beginner and struggling with a non working system which you simply do not know how to fix, being faced with reinstalling, realising that during the install windows also got hosed, etc...

You need to name the "spoon feeding distros".

People learn most things by starting with the ready made thing and working backwards... Starting with a more advanced distribution can often lead to a lot of pain and frustration. I tried slackware in the early days and was utterly lost in how to do anything at all with it. Getting mandrake, installing, playing around seeing how things worked and then have a web browser with a working platform from which to try things from and find info on the web made all the difference.

I do partially agree with you, that there will come a point in the learning process where the "spoon feeding distro" may become a glass ceiling to further learning.