A personal favourite, as a kid and still today as a history finalist, is Gombrich's A Little History of the World ; its a bit Europe-centred (as expected from any book written in 1935) but it's a real pleasure to read, and a reasonably short narrative from prehistory to the modern period. As for documentaries, The Civil War and The Vietnam War by Ken Burns is a good call if you like American history: it's well-paced, looks great and comprehensive without feeling too long.

In terms of general advice, I'd say the best way to get into it is to find what interests you. The awesome thing about history is how diverse it is- as part of my degree I've studied witch trials in 16th c Germany, barbarian invasions, anticolonial uprisings in Central Asia and gay liberation in the 70s. There's gonna be something there for you :)

Hi there! As a reminder to those posting or thinking about posting here, this is still AskHistorians: even for book or documentary recommendations, you need to be more substantive than 'this thing was kinda cool' - give OP (and any other interested readers) a sense of what the resource is and the basis for your recommendation.

OP, to get you off on the right track:

1. There is, happily, no wrong way to get started - pick whatever seems most interesting to you, and keep your eye out for connections that might lead you to new topics.
2. As a starting point - not least for topics to browse that you might find interesting - we have a curated booklist with plenty of recommendations for high-quality introductory texts.