Is Half-Life Half-Good?

I have a confession to make. I have never played Half-Life or Half-Life 2. The problem is that I didn’t have a computer good enough to run Half-Life when it came out, and when Half-Life 2 came out and everyone  was raving about both, I never picked it up because I had never played the first one.

I’ve decided that it’s time to change that. I’m going to play through Half-Life, Half-Life 2, and Half-Life 2 Episodes 1 & 2. The problem is that it’s not exactly simple to figure out which Half-Life I want to start with. So far I’ve seen Half-Life, Half-Life Source, and several graphical update mods, some of which are released and some of which aren’t.

I figured I’d put my problem here to get some feedback from the community. Which Half-Life should I buy, and then which graphics mod/mods if any should I install in order to better enjoy the experience?

Thanks in advance for the feedback. I’m looking forward to playing this classic finally.