This is another helpful language learning book produced by the author of "Learn Chinese through Songs and Rhymes". Whereas "Learn Chinese through Songs and Rhymes" capitalizes on our natural ability to recall lyrics for simple songs and rhymes, this book introduces additional sets of vocabulary and sentence patterns to intermediate-level students through a selection of interesting stories that cover many different aspects of life, enabling the reader to learn a bit about the culture of a few countries, as well as a number of important scientific and medical discoveries.

The main text is fully annotated with pinyin and English translation. The emphasis of the instructional sections is still on learning words, phrases, and making sentences. The authors's succinct and articulate writing style makes this book an enjoyable read even though its main purpose is to help you learn Chinese.