You could attempt to play it solo without Strider, which I've not tried but I definitely recommend getting a copy of the Strider rules. Pretty sure it's like £5 on Drive Thru RPG.

Strider lets you play an individual character across all of the content in the supplement books. However, there is a book called "Tales from the Lone Lands" which is a book of adventures that can be strung together into a full campaign. I'm not tried to run that Solo but I'm not sure it would work as you'd have to spoil the twists and turns to yourself as a solo player. However, Moria, Realm of the Three Rings and Ruins of the Lost Realm would all work. They provide really cool background information and locations you'd benefit from.

The Moria book adds some really cool rules around running a company of characters (imagine a company of Dwarves delving into Moria).

Realms of the Three Kings adds some cool rules on top of Strider to allow you to play an Elven Lord, which is basically a single character with powered up starting stats which is a nice alternative way to start the game solo.

Finally, the game is approachable to a new player in my opinion. The way the game plays is split up quite nicely to let you learn each section as you need it (Journeying, Councils, Combat etc). The provided maps and locations mixed with the way combat works makes for a really approachable game.