Great start with Russian
579982
One of the best beginner series books to learn Russian grammar with. It really helped me when I lived in Russia.
2735435
I confess that I have some previous experience with the Russian language and that had I not already known basic letter sounds and inflection I might not have gotten much from this book. Out of curiosity, I asked my 8 year old to try some of the words and short phrases and she did pretty well in sounding everything out.
The best section of this book deals with food. In a situation when you have very little Russian but desperately need to tell  the waiter "Without cheese, please" or something similar this book is aces. It also teaches everyday pleasantries for travellers but a person would need much more than is contained in this book to get around a Russian speaking country comfortably.
Hey, for a dollar fifty cents, even if you only get a few phrases out of it, it's small and would be good to stuff in your briefcase or bag for quick reference in a pinch.  Worst case scenario, you could point to the necessary words as they are well grouped according to the situation or topic at hand.
2547464
It was a bit slow to start but once I got into it I loved it.  The narrator from Audible did a great job.  I loved his Russian accent.
1398526
If you wish to learn to read the Russian alphabet, this is an outstanding book. One big 'however', however... The book is entirely in Russian! If you cannot speak any Russian you will have a terrible time getting started. But once you do, the book walks you through the letters, building on each other from just sounds to words and (short) sentences. A great way to learn. Search the Internet for pronunciation, and you may be good. I am lucky enough to have a Russian friend who helps me get started.
2628448
I'm a Russian student and wanted a bit of help on some verbs and prefixes - this book definitely made it a lot easier to get my head around them! I especially liked the example translations which made the concepts and useage easier to understand properly - they sounded very natural and non-stilted.
Definitely recommended!
4911601
A definite improvement over the New Penguin Russian Course book.  This book adds so much more in terms of depth of explanation and lots of examples of sentences in their respective cases to demonstrate the various case forms, plus the added drill exercises, too.  This was one area that was severely lacking in the New Penguin book - very few examples to clarify how a case is clearly used that left me hanging.  Reading this book the grammar explanations are crystal clear, no second guessing here...  You do not need an answer key for the drills in this text; all work can be checked with Google Translate. On the whole, you will not find a finer intro textbook available on the market today that will lay a strong foundation to move your Russian language skills to the next level.
3706304
This a very awsome cd,worth the money you're paying for. If you understand russian langauge you should definatly get it!
749777
This is a new Russian language chess book by correspondence grandmaster Nikolai Kalinichenko.  The title is not translated exactly, but it gets the meaning right.  It is a book with a section on tactics and one on strategy.

I don't speak Russian, but with the help of (<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Russian-for-Chessplayers/dp/0938650440/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Russian for Chessplayers</a>), Google Translate and some Russian stickers for my extra keyboard (<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/RUSSIAN-CYRILLIC-APPLE-KEYBOARD-STICKER-WITH-BLUE-LETTERING-ON-TRANSPARENT-BACKGROUND/dp/B005COXQNC/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">RUSSIAN CYRILLIC APPLE KEYBOARD STICKER WITH BLUE LETTERING ON TRANSPARENT BACKGROUND</a>) I have been able to read the annotations in this book with no problem.  I have translated the description from the back cover below:

"This new fundamental work by grandmaster Kalinichenko, author of more than 50 chess books, is meant to fill the empty space of general textbooks for players who have overcome the initial level. The market offers a lot of chess textbooks for beginners, but for players at the next level of development there is practically nothing. For lack of a single chess book to use, players must use various items: special brochures, collections, etc. This book is in its two parts and combines important aspects of chess fight: tactics and strategy.  It contains almost two thousand diagrams, examples and thousands of tests careful study can be time consuming, but the process will grow the chess skills of the reader. More than a thousand tactics exercises are not only fun to solve, but also will quickly improve the practical results of the reader. The bulk of the part on strategy contains both general issues of strategic combat and specific strategic methods. Special exercises help the reader to consolidate the theoretical material . The book is primarily aimed at improving a wide range of skill players."

Well that sounds like me, and maybe it sounds like you.  I heard that Bobby Fischer learned Russian to read their chess literature.  While I don't translate much from the book, the positions are different from the ones I have in other books and the tactical section is arranged by motif, with some easy problems building to harder problems.  The use of figurine notation and informant symbols makes the book remarkably usable.

It is a nice hardback book that is constructed well and lays nice and flat as you go through it.  It is a huge book (think college chemistry book...), and it's great fun to have a little more chess culture on the shelf - especially something that is both interesting and useful.

One of the fun things about this book is that it has exactly the same cover art as Dan Heisman's book on amatuer games (<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/World-s-Most-Instructive-Amateur-Game-Book/dp/1936277433/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">World's Most Instructive Amateur Game Book</a>)

It's a novelty, but I can recommend the book over many of the english ones I own!
2718015
Thoroughly enjoyable and doesn't strain my knowledge of Russian.  Draws you in and holds your attention.
4254438
I wanted the book in the Russian language (I clicked on Russian language tab)  but it wasn't but I still liked it, it's perfect for begginers it's simple, nice pace
4486446
It's okay.

The Russian is too antiquated, and difficult.

It's like trying to learn English reading Charles Dickens... Yeah, it's fairly similar, but some stuff is just wrong or dated.
261745
I'm thrilled to find such a great book! There are so few Russian language books available that are not dry, boring textbooks - and almost none designed specifically for children.  The texts are interesting and engaging, so kids can follow the stories even if they don't understand every word.  My daughters (9 & 13) love this book and the activities book, and I like that it can be used again and again as you learn more about the language.  It can be used simply for translation and reading exercises, but you can also go back to texts you have already translated to learn and practice using many forms of Russian grammar: conjugation, plural forms, cases, etc.  I think that we will use this book again and again as our Russian language skills improve.  I would definitely recommend this book to anyone with children learning Russian, but also for adults - I am also a Russian language student and I love this book!
1484939
Love this book! You don't need to be able to read Russian to be able to follow along. However, I downloaded a free Russian to English translation app on my smartphone using the camera, and now I can also read this book!!
743247
This title is an excellent resource for learning Russian vocabulary. In fact, that's all it is - vocabulary. It's not buried under mountains of grammar and/or cultural tidbits. While those things are fine, if your goal is to quickly increase your Russian vocabulary, then it just makes sense to use this book.

Why not another less expensive dictionary, maybe?

The print is larger for one. That makes it easier to read and study from. Secondly, the entries aren't weighted down by parts of speech and those definitions that seem to run on forever. This title is quite simply ---

frequency number-Russian word-English translation-any abnormal nuisances of the Russian word

Don't get me wrong. Standard Russian/English dictionaries are a must for any learner's bookshelf but if you add this book too, then you'll master the vocabulary much faster and easier.

As you can tell, I highly recommend this book.
671211
This language program, in ten parts, gradually and effectively introduces the Russian language.  Each part introduces new words and phrases and re-emphasizes those learned in the previous section.  Very, very effective.
525101
First of all, I love this book. I think it's the very first place to start Russian study. I highly recommend that anyone wanting to learn Russian start with this book.  It will demystify the alphabet and introduce you to cursive writing. And here's an amazing website to help you with cursive:

[...]

All you do is put your mouse over the letter, and a "drawing" appears showing your pen strokes.  It's great!!  I bought an elementary school writing practice book and just write these letters repeatedly (like an elementary school student!). My son is a Russian major and had to write each letter hundreds of times - there's no easier way. I carry my practice book around with me - great to do when you're in a waiting situation.  NOW, can someone recommend to me the very best next book to use for start learing the basics? Anyone have a recommendation for the next book after this one?
1493815
if you only want a sample of Pushkin, this is a great one to pick up. More brilliant in Russian, but the Oxford English tranlation is a work of art itself.