I've been considering getting into snowshoeing as well and picked up the book Snowshoeing in the Canadian Rockies by Andrew Nugara (Amazon has a preview of the book).

While the trails in the book are specific to this part of the world, the first 70 pages or so of the book were dedicated to educating the uninitiated in snowshoeing including things like gear choices, technique, avalanche risks, recommended training courses (e.g., avalanche safety training), etc. I found it to be a very worthwhile resource.
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Victory awaits him who has everything in order — luck, people call it. Defeat is certain for him who has neglected to take the necessary precautions in time; this is called bad luck. Roald Amundsen