I purchased this book 1 month ago and it hasn't been far from my sight since then!The layout is as follows: 10 chapters with accompanying vocabulary (in Hanzi, pinyin with tonal marks and english explanations), "themed" passage written in (simplified) characters that incorporates the identified vocabulary), questions to for the reader to answer immediatly after the passage (based on the chapter passage), grammar rules, and grammar drills. By the end of a chapter, you've learned a bit of Chinese culture (via the written passage), learned some very important rules and then practiced those rules extensively.In the back of the book, there are several appendices which include explanation of calligraphy styles, a dictionary and stroke orders for each chapter's vocabulary.I am just now through Chapter one (due to limited time to study each day), can write the 70 or so characters in the appropriate stroke order from memory, and understand a simple explanation of Chinese names (which was the chapter's theme).It's the best book I've found to help me with the written Chinese language. My only criticism is that there are no answers to the grammar exercises. But, you can figure it out from the Chapter contents. Must be a motivated self-study type of person because it is, er, challenging.