If you're looking for an introduction to Russian, with dialogues and lessons, this book is not for you. It is, however, the clearest book I've found to explain the grammatical concepts. If you're self-teaching with tapes or software programs, you will most likey come to a point where you've learned an expression or a change in word endings without fully understanding the grammar behind it, this is where to look to quickly get the explanation. It does not contain much vocabulary, or full sentences, it is made up of chapters explaining particular grammatical structures and rules, so you're not going to learn to speak using this book alone.