I agree with the previous reviewer - if this book had tone marks with the PinYin, it would rate a full star higher! The Chinese is a little difficult to read (I'm just starting out learning Chinese) due to the typesetting fint used. I like the organization - based upon the first Chinese character in the phrase - you can find related phrases together.

I have no trouble recemmending this book, but could be much more enthusiastic if there were a couple printing changes made.

Good, but not great, May 26, 2001
　

This book has a very good overview of 1000 idioms alphabetized by Pinyin. It has the 4 chineses characters for each idiom followed by the Pinyin, a literal translation as well as an explanation of what it is trying to say. One major complaint and one small one. Major: There are no tone marks on the pinyin! If you want to use a saying you need a dictionary to get the tones. Minor: the font chosen for the characters simulates natural handwriting and is difficult for a beginer to read. If they rereleased the book with these changes it would be a 4 stars.