The new 52, like @arkhamace said, is a reboot. In a reboot you are not obliged to re-introduce all the previous characters/vilains. They have for some, but not all of them. But they also have introduced new characters/vilains.
And for the answer to "the New 52 will be the best way forward?", it's a way, the best I don't know. I also think that the new 52 have a lot of titles. It's hard to follow every things.
Then to miss nothing : look at every tpb that DC publishes and try to get them as they come out. You should read in order of publication.
If you want to focus only on Batman, the titles/books to read are : The Batman - Batman, the dark knight (it focuses on stories where batman is acting alone) - Detective Comics - Batman crossover titles (like Night of the owl) - Batman min-series (like Batman eternal).
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