Reddit mentions of Mastering Tak: Level I: A foundation for success (Volume 1)

I'd suggest starting with BeginnerBot or FriendlyBot if no one is around to play. A (somewhat outdated) guide to the bots can be found here. FriendlyBot comes with some levels which are nice to progress through. The whole community is very nice and supportive, so feel free to ask any questions you have!

/u/rabbitboy84 wrote a wonderful guide on beginner strategy which can be found here for a pittance.

This truly is a beautiful game. As someone who enjoys the books it is awesome. As someone who enjoys abstract strategy games, it is very accessible, and much more welcoming than, say, Chess or Go.

Yes, it depends on what you are after. If you are interested in the Rothfuss fictional side of things, then the companion book is what you want. If you want common terms for board analysis/strategy, my book has some suggested terms. But, if you are just looking to casually play, you can ask for specific definitions here or on the Discord.

So, there are three Tak Strategy guides in existence that I know of. One of them is the book published by rabbitboy84 called Mastering Tak: Level I and one of them is the short guide written by the number one player, NohatCoder here. The final one is a blog that went on for a while called Tak Traveler.

Personally, I feel that Nohat's short guide really hits some important points and helped me go from crappy to average in Tak. I haven't read the other guides, so I have no input on them other than that they exist.