The Old Testament is the exact same text as the Jewish Torah.  The Christian faith is founded on the Jewish faith.  The Old Testament begins with the first book of the Bible, Genesis, and goes to Malachi.  It includes tons of history.  It tells of stories of what God has done in the past.  It also lists all of the laws that the Jews had to follow before Jesus came to earth.  It also includes many prophecies about Jesus.  The Old Testament scriptures are one of the biggest reasons for believing in Jesus Christ.  (More on this later, if you're interested.)

Anyway, the Old Testament can be interesting at certain points (like the Creation of the world) and really dull at other points (like the reports of families and who was born to whom.)  Also, a lot of the laws and regulations of the Old Testament are obsolete, now that Jesus has come to Earth.  We don't have to follow all of those rules anymore.  However, the Old Testament is very, very important for a lot of reasons.  It tells us a lot about what God has already done and what His plan has been from the beginning of time.  It also shows us what Jesus freed us from.  Lastly, it holds a lot of promises for what God wants to do in our lives, even today!

With all of that said, if you like history and want to start with the history of the Christian faith, then the Old Testament is a good place to start.  I am going to list some good places to learn more about God and what He did in the beginning of time.  I'm including links to The Message Version on BibleGateway.com.  That way, if you just want to start to learn some of the stories, you can start whenever you're ready.  This is NOT a to-do list.  Just look through some of the titles and see what sounds interesting.