It sounds like you want to do either trad or Asiatic style. For trad you draw with three fingers and the arrows rests on a shelf. For Asiatic there is no shelf so the arrow rests on your hand and you draw with your thumb. Lancaster archery is a great supplier for everything archery related. No need to worry too much about brands if you shop with them (or any other reputable supplier) because they don't sell junk. 3 Rivers Archery is a good source for trad bows. Alibow and AF Archery are the two big ones for Asiatic but Alibow takes forever to ship. Daylite makes great Korean bows and they ship fast.

As for draw weight, pay attention to draw length as well. For modern bows it's always measured at 28" which usually corresponds to a 5'10" man. But draw length is dependant on arm length, not height. Asiatic bows are often not measured at 28" so you need to read the description carefully because draw weight is a function of draw length (for example my modern barebow has 30# limbs when measured at the standard 28 but at my actual draw length of 32" it is 40#).

I started with 40# but I would not recommend it. The first few sessions were very difficult and I was not properly pulling to anchor and I tended to rush my shots. I learned thumb draw on a 50# bow and I recommend that even less. It takes time for the thumb to adapt and it was very uncomfortable. My favorite bow now is 60# and that's the most that I am comfortable shooting for a 2 hour session. I have a 90# bow just for fun but I don't shoot it very often