The bunny slope would be something like Barbara London and James Upton's "Photography" now in its seventh edition. It looks large (huge!) but has every bit of information you need to get you where you want to be. I use it all the time for reference on things I may have forgotten or don't normally focus on (pardon the pun).(posted 8275 days ago)After that you should read "The Negative" by St. Ansel. Everything you need to know about B/W exposure and development starts there.
Another good book for beginers is Carson Graves's "The Zone System for 35mm Photographers."
As far as digital vs. darkroom, while some here might tell you that darkrooms are going the way of the 286 computer running Windows 3.1, some of us believe that b/w silver based photography will be with us for quite some time. As I've said time and time again, ever notice there are still tons of arts supplies stores and craft stores doing very well selling things like canvas and oil paints even though why anyone would want a painted picture when they can download it from the Internet.....??
Plus it's a lot more fun doing it yourself, a la the darkroom, than letting a computer do it for you.