Elementary Chinese Readers (Volume I) [Chinese]

I picked this book up in a Seattle used book store in September, and as of November I have now arrived at the last chapter. I've also read several other Chinese books but have never gotten through them cover-to-cover, so this is a good thing. My background is that I have a girlfriend who I chat with constantly, practicing new and old stuff with so I am not a beginner. That said... ...I would say this is a great book for a person like me who knows the basics and would like to review them as well as learn new vocabulary. The chapters are broken up very well, I split them up over 2 days and do them leisurely. Previously introduced vocabulary is employed often in later chapters in different contexts. There are a variety of exercises to avoid stale-ination. What I like about this book is that you can leave it to the book to repeat the vocabulary, as opposed to you writing it down and having to do it for yourself, a la spaced repetition. I also like that they give just enough new words to not overwhelm. It's a comfortable pace, as opposed to learn mandarin in 21 days kind of thing. The dialogue is mildly interesting as well. If you are self-learning, without further resource, I would say this is not the book for you. If you are already familiar with Mandarin, I would definitely recommend for the basic mandarin student. (Advanced students will of course have no need for this book.)