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As a beginner you're going to want to start with extracts to make your beer. Choose a style you want to brew and find a decent recipe (Charlie Pappazan has good beginner shit in his book "The Joy of Homebrewing"). Once you do a couple of batches using extract, you will want to make the move to all-grain brewing. With all-grain you will be boiling combinations of crushed grain and end up with a kettle of wort (water infused with all the shit the grain has released). This method will allow you to tweak your beers and have far greater control of taste, color, alcohol content, head, etc. All-grain requires more equipment and it is a bit more expensive to get into, so I recommend trying the extract method to see if you actually like brewing beer. The first time I brewed it took several hours. Like the previous post said, pay special attention to cleanliness/sterilization. If you have any questions shoot me an inbox.

Also, many of the finer homebrew supply places offer classes on basic homebrewing. It's best to learn by working with someone who knows what they are doing.

Be warned, though. A lot of the hardcore brewers are balding, full bearded, middle-aged chemists/snobs/geeks that can get on one's nerves pretty quickly.