I'm new to this whole linux thing and i was wondering. I have linux mint 8 and i was curious whats the difference between the different system like ubuntu i'd really like to know the difference.

I've only used Mandriva and Ubuntu

The difference isnt that big for the end user. but ofcourse if you look into deeper into how it works there is a difference.

But i would say that i have the best experience with ubuntu. its community is much larger and Mandriva just had a lot of bugs on my pc.
Like crashing a program called <unknown>, slow internet establishment and other weird stuff.

If you are new to the whole linux, you should try ubuntu, as it deems to be most user friendly

Generally, there are various differences between distributions. It can be the looks, the default selection of packages, etc. You'll have to try a few distros (as we all did in the past) until you decide that a particular one is most suitable for you.

Asking what the difference is between two distros is analogous to asking "what's the difference between the US and Canada?". It's too broad of a question to answer concisely. The various distributions all have a combination of similarities and differences, some big and obvious, such as which default desktop and which package managers they use, and others more subtle, like whether they use the sysV or bsd style of init systems.

The only things that are pretty much guaranteed to be the same across distros are that they will all be using some version of the Linux kernel and the gnu coreutils (though even then there may be minor distros that use non-gnu parts). In general they will also conform to the unix/posix style of filesystem structure and OS operation, though that alone leaves a lot of room for variety.

In the end the only way to really understand what a distribution is like is to try it out.

well i was just curious cause i found this book on ubuntu called Beginning Ubuntu Linux - From Novice To Professional and if linux mint is alot different why bother reading if it wouldn't help

Oh, well, you should've been more specific then.
In that case, a look at wikipedia can help.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_mint

Since mint is based on Ubuntu, the majority of the book should still be useful. Just keep in mind that you will come across differences, such as the use of mint's distro-specific system tools. Hopefully you'll be able to translate between them fairly easily.

If you can get the book at a bargain price I'd say go for it, otherwise it's your call. Personally, I've found that Google is sufficient for most help purposes.

The only way to understand the differences between various distros is to try them. The best one for you may simply be the last one that you try.

Keep in mind that some of the differences are--for example--just the choice of Window manager or Desktop environment----you can install any of them on any distro.

i would just use google for the help i need but the i don't really learn to much except what i need to use at that time i wanna learn even the stuff i might use once thanks for the help

There are a lot of little differences between distros. Configuration of the kernel, DEs, programs in repositories, system configurations out of the box, fonts, package managers... It all has influence on system stability. The more you use GNU/Linux, the more you start to understand this difference.