Rating: 
Summary: an eye opener, mind opener dictionary.
Review: 1-has pinyn & bofomo that helps me to find traditional characters that i love.2-you can memorize/remember 4 to 8000 characters if you were a child who started learning chinese at age 5,but if you are an adult foreigner, you will need a more logic dictionary like Harbaugh's. 3-i wish he made a larger size dictionary w/ larger characters.4-i give him 5 stars because very few writer/instructor would tell you the trick
in learning dancing, playg piano,guitar, etc
Rating:
Summary: Great book for learning Charaters
Review: A pretty well thought out book, especially if you are into the study of Chinese characters. Because it shows where the characters came from and why, it makes the characters easier to remember. If you are a beginner or advanced learner of Chinese characters, I would recommend this book.
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Summary: The pinyin is fine.
Review: Although I do not personally own this dictionary, I have seen it and feel that it is excellent as the others have noted. There is nothing wrong with the pinyin. Yes, it's "pinyin", not "pingying". The letter ü (u with an umlaut) is only used to distinguish between nu and nü, and lu and lü. After n and l, both the value of u and the value of ü are possible. There is no need to use ü after j, q, x, and y because it's always ü after these consonants. The letter u is used in place of ü out of orthographic economy. Conversely, as the sound represented by ü never occurs after any consonant other than n, l, j, x, q, and y, there are no syllables as bü, tü, or kün and no need to note it anywhere other than after n and l should the value of ü occur after n or l. This dictionary follows the pinyin romanisation scheme. As for some individuals, I cannot say the same. It IS puzzling that there are many who take strange liberties on the rules of roman orthography for Chinese - but this dictionary is not one of them. It does the job and does it well. Apropos, it's "zhuyin fuhao", not "zu yin fu hao". Good pronunciation is definitely important. :)
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Summary: Not comprehensive, but more than makes up for it
Review: Being a Western-educated Chinese person who wants to learn his mother tongue long after he has ceased to speak it, this dictionary I have found to be invaluable. Although the 'etymology' of certain characters may be dubious, it has helped me to remember characters a lot easier than using ROTE learning solely. Typeface is a little annoying, but one can get over it after one sees the wealth of info this dictionary gives. Highly recommended for any student of Chinese. (NOTE: This is in Traditional Chinese, not Simplified Chinese)
Rating: 
Summary: i planned to use it as a dictionary
Review: but there are others that are better for that purpose
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating and Unique Approach for a Dictionary
Review: Guess I should have gathered that from its title, but my initial mistake was thinking it was a traditional dictionary. I am now in my second year of learning Chinese. Two titles are indispensible, this one and the brief McNaughton one (revised, 1999). I continue to see increasing value in the Harbaugh approach: variable ways to find words and a thoroughly exhaustive entry on a word. As pointed out by other reviewers, entries include permutations of the word you are looking up with other words (in any order). Examining the genealogy helps you remember the character because of its origins, similar to McNaughton (but perhaps not with the humor that McNaughton displays occasionally). On the down side, definitions don't give many contextual examples, so occasionally you might mis-use a word. This is a problem with any dictionary however, so I'm not sure it's a fair criticism. Not to labor the point, this book dramatically improves with one's own knowledge of Chinese. It's remakably complete given its size and your ability to actually see the type. I've used both the paper-edition and the online edition. I think the paper edition is easier to browse. Now, if he only had an accompanying CD with all the words pronounced, I would be in heaven. But this book is a deal...
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Summary: The first dictionary I go to
Review: I am a beginning student and find this to be the most used of four dictionaries that I have purchased. Much to my surprise I find myself reading it for pleasure. The way in which the characters "grow" from radicals is natural and gives meaning to what was an exercise in memorization and repetition. I cannot comment on whether the history of each word is correct, but the ability to learn a word and see how it relates to brothers, sisters, and cousins makes it a lot easier for me to understand vocabulary. If words are the building blocks of thought, than this dictionary is a blueprint of how those blocks can be fitted together. Many thanks to the author for the pleasure and undestanding that he has added to my studies. (Now if only Amazon had a spelling checker for these reviews).
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Summary: Great Dictionary
Review: I am learning Chinese in school, and find this dictionary very helpful. I use it for all of my work. It's got virtually every word and is easy to use. My whole class is getting one! It is "hen hao."
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Summary: This is the best chinese dictionary I have ever read.
Review: I began using the on-line version of this dictionary and found it just wonderful. Since then I was longing about one year on how to get the printed version, and fortunately I received it book as a gift and I have been using it since then. Chinese Characters a genealogy and dictionary provides a deep understanding of the chinese characters meaning, history and development. One characteristic I like the most, is that is very easy to use and, it is written in traditional characters, pointing out, also, the modern character. It is just great!
Rating: 
Summary: Useful in some respects
Review: I bought this book when I began studying the Chinese language and after I had become acquainted with the author's excellent website. Unfortunately, this book is mostly useful for students learning the traditional character set. It does include the simplified versions of characters; however, the layout and organization are heavily biased towards the traditional way of writing the characters. For those students who are learning the simplified way of writing characters (the set used by mainland China), I recommend the Concise English-Chinese Chinese-English Dictionary by Oxford University Press that can be found elseware on amazon.
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