You seem so confused. I wouldnt worry about footing yet, or anything that detailed just yet. Alot of these are sunnah and not compulsary. Remmeber the Quran was bought down in stages. Not revealed all at once and there is a reason for that. You cant do everything at once.
Islam is a way of life- it goes into huge detail. But you can only go further when you have understood the basics. Which is what you said you wanted. In my opinion- I think you should forget the sects for now.. A good book I think is by a convert called Ruqaiyyah Waris Maqsood. Its a GCSE ISLAM book. But its an important book to have and I find myself still refering to it- when Im not sure on something. Covers the prophets life, has keys parts of the quran to back up everything she writes almost- which is useful for duaas, the different angels, how to pray, rates of zakat, what islam says on envy, abortion etc.
Heres the link to read some of it online
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=6...esult#PPA51,M1
I'd buy this. You mentionned islamic callender in relation to neglish. I used to wonder this- I didnt get far in my research as I didnt understand at the time. I find myself wondering about it every Ramamdan. It might be worth trying t find lectures on that specific topic- which might be on youtube. I dont know if youve heard of Living Islam camp in Britain but there may be a talk on that which has happened and been recorded.