I wouldn't say Factions is dead, if anything it killed itself with overuse. Most servers run on 1.8 but you're able to connect to them with any version. They use this in order to gain more players. For one reason I know they'd use it for is to avoid the new PvP system.
Hey, I'm sure you could learn some things from here: http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Tutorials/Beginner%27s_guide Minecraft is pretty straight forward, honestly. I'm not too familiar with PS4 but from my understanding it's somewhat similar to PC. There are two gamemodes that you could play- Creative and Survival. If you're wanting to play creatively, let your imagination flow! And if you want to play in survival, well, you should read up on some crafting recipes and mobs!
I'd say the books are more for collectors, you could learn a lot by simply Googling your question.
I would find that annoying, yes. But sometimes it is good for a server owner to get away from their server. It can be very stressful managing your own community and sometimes you need to blow off some steam by playing on other servers. Even ones similar to what you own, you could like the server idea but just want to get away from your own for a bit.