Learning the Tarot, Joan Bunning offers a complete course in 19 lessons that covers the basics and then gradually goes into more advanced concepts.
 
First published in 1998, Joan Bunning’s Learning the Tarot has become a tarot classic. Written in a confident and natural style, the book communicates the basic depth and beauty of each card, shows how the cards trigger psychological projection, and enhances intuition.
 
Learning the Tarot is a thorough (but never overwhelming) invitation to the beginner. The book focuses in detail on:
  the actual process of discovering meaning in the cards how to consider one card by itself, how to look for card pairs how to create the "story" of a reading  
The book includes a convenient reference section that contains two pages of information for each card, including a picture from the popular Waite-Smith deck, a description, keywords, action phrases, and suggestions for cards with similar and opposite meanings.
 
The author first presented this course online at learntarot.com, which continues to attract over one hundred thousand visitors per month. “When I first created my website in 1995,” writes Joan Bunning, “I never dreamed how much interest in the tarot I would find. People from all over the world began writing to tell me about their experiences with the course and their adventures with the cards. This response was music to my ears! I knew from my own experience that the tarot is a wonderful tool for personal guidance and inner exploration.
 
“My goal with this book was to give you the basics you need to begin working with the tarot on your own. I try to make this inner process understandable by breaking it up into a series of steps that are simple while still doing justice to the depth and beauty of the cards. I concentrate on the everyday, showing how the tarot makes real, practical sense in the modern world. The tarot is a living system that adapts creatively to each user. Rather than rules, I offer guidelines. While reading my book, I want you to feel that you have a teacher sitting next to you who is introducing you to this special tool, but also encouraging you to go on to discover your own unique approach to the cards.”