Listed in recommended reading order for the beginning student:

Ultimate Crash Course - How we Got the Bible By: Neil LightFoot
This is a wonderfully well considered and written introduction to...well...How we got the Bible. This is the best place to start your extra-biblical education about the Bible. After reading this you will understand the uneducated sillyness of common assertions such as: The Bible has been translated so many times, it can't be trusted. How untrue! But quick answers are available from my World's Fastest Crash Course.

The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration (4th Edition) By: Bruce M. Metzger (Author), Bart D. Ehrman (Author)
Whenever Bruce Metzger writes a book, it becomes THE CANON of that book category. Metzger is arguably the most well respected and admired author of books on scholarly biblical topics and certainly the most quoted and cited.

The Bible in Translation: Ancient and English Versions By: Bruce M. Metzger (Author)

The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable? By: Frederick Fyvie Bruce

The Book : A History of the Bible By: Christopher De Hamel (Author), Profusely illustrated (Illustrator)

The Canon of the New Testament: Its Origin, Development, and Significance By: Bruce M. Metzger

The Text of the New Testament an Introduction to the Critical Editions and to the Theory and Practice of Modern Textual Criticism By: Kurt Aland and Barbara Aland

Church History Volume One: From Christ to Pre-Reformation: The Rise and Growth of the Church in Its Cultural, Intellectual, and Political Context By: Everett Ferguson (Author)

Readings in World Christian History By: John W. Coakley (Editor), Andrea Sterk (Editor)

Readings in the History of Christian Theology, Volume 1: From Its Beginnings to the Eve of the Reformation (Readings in the History of Christian Theol By: William C. Placher (Editor)

Readings in the History of Christian Theology, Volume 2: From the Reformation to the Present (Readings in the History of Christian Theology Vol. II) By: William C. Placher (Author)

The Origin of the Bible By: Harlod O. J. Brown (Contributor), et al

The Story of Christian Theology: Twenty Centuries of Tradition & Reform By: Roger E. Olson (Author)