What are the best resources to learn Istio?

I took a Udemy course called "Istio Hands On for Kubernetes". It was decent for showing the capabilities of Istio, but I didn't feel like I became fully comfortable with it. The best way to learn is to set it up and start playing around. You might get frustrated if you change things without understanding them, so take your time and iterate based on your needs.

I used the "Advanced Istio Service Mesh Workshop" from GitHub, which is totally free and great for hands-on. Also, there’s a hosted Kubernetes playground from the Meshery project that's pretty neat for practicing your skills!

If you're looking into Istio's Ambient mode specifically, I found the official Istio documentation really helpful, especially for architecture insights. Also, dive into the Istio GitHub for detailed specs on components. Don't overlook the Envoy documentation too; getting familiar with how Istio proxies work can really deepen your understanding. Just using `istioctl` to check the Envoy config can be a great learning tool.

I highly recommend the book "Istio in Action" by Christian E. Posta and Rinor Maloku. It’s well-structured with plenty of examples. I've just finished the first five chapters, and I think it's a fantastic resource for learning ISTIO.