Buddhism: Learning from the begining. First book.

I am a man of science. That means I trust the scientific process of discovery, experimentation, and dis-confirming my beliefs. As I am getting closer to 50, my father recommended I read more about religion. He especially recommended Buddhism as he has been studying Buddhism for more than 50 years now. I am going to start with a 1956 book called Buddha and his Dhamma. Based on my background research (i.e. Bunch of Googling), The book was written after deep study of every Buddhist literature in ancient original Pali language and Sanskrit language texts. For 500 years the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama Buddha was passed down verbally. Then his followers wrote them down in Pali language texts. They were written on palm leaves 500 years after the death of Gautama Buddha.