Reraising with top pair weak kicker…

[Pov]

This would be a fairly standard play, IMO. If villain re-raises your raise you can fold unimproved on the turn. The reason you would raise is to shut out the other players who might have called with a hand like A8s or KQ i.e. overcards and other one-pair hands. Your raise will hopefully get it heads up and net you the best chance to win the hand. What to do if your opponent checks to you on the turn requires knowledge of the opponent and your table image and whether the turn card is likely to have helped villain or the hand he thinks you have.

And don't assume only a better hand will call your raise. There are a lot of worse hands that will call it too. Sklansky's ToP and HEFAP were written before the poker boom and he's assuming most of your opponents are pretty good compared with what you're actually likely to find in the modern game.