Rating: 
Summary: Excellent tutorial
Review: Excellent tutorial, tho' it does not replace Lambton's Persian Grammar as a reference book. However, it is syntactically more useful and except for its lack of a key (why no key?) a far better approach to the language. Do use Lambton after or alongside for her more complete coverage of the language.
Rating: 
Summary: Good for certain purposes.
Review: First and foremost, understand what this book is. It would most properly be termed a graded grammar. It is not a book to teach you to memorize how to ask the location of nearest bathroom. The focus is on the written modern language, with some discussion of classical Persian as well.Now, because it *is* a grammar, it uses actual grammatic terminology. Some reviewers are apparently shocked by this. So, if you're not familiar with that terminology, you may actually have to use an English dictionary to look up some words. It's pretty difficult to learn a language on your own without understanding some grammar. There are very expensive and time-consuming courses in some languages that will drill you through all the various grammatical forms without explaining what they are, or using any hard English words (but nothing like this is available in Persian, anyway.) So, get over it, and use a dictionary. I'm using this book to learn how to read Persian. It's pretty good for that, and quite thorough. It would be useful as an adjunct resource if you want to learn to speak Persian, but not as your primary resource. It doesn't have the appropriate sort of drills and tapes for learning to speak. The drills are of the more traditional two-way translation variety. The major weakness of the book, as others have pointed out, is the lack of keys to exercises. For me, it's not a big problem, because if you're learning to read a language, you can usually tell when you've figured out the right translation, because things will just "click". If you wanted to learn to write to your Persian friend in Persian, this would be a major problem, as you really need a key to the exercises, because you'll make little grammatical errors that you won't catch without a key. A minor weakness is the presentation of the alphabet. Everything you need to know about the Persian script is presented in the introduction to this book. However, it's presented in a very concise format, so what you'll have to do is use this information to make up your own drills with flash cards, etc., so you have a good handle on the alphabet before you start. That's what I did, and it worked fine. You may also want to either get the tapes associated with the book, or get another course where the focus is on speaking. I say this only because I've had real trouble in the past learning to read languages where I didn't have a firm grasp on what the language sounded like. For some reason, I can teach myself to read much better if I can hear the words in my head. The tapes with the book are fine for that, with good, clear, slow pronunciation, but they're not good for learning to speak, because, again, they don't have the appropriate sort of drills. So, in summary, it's quite good for learning to read, so-so for learning to write, and useful only as a secondary resource for learning to speak.
Rating:
Summary: Good for certain purposes.
Review: First and foremost, understand what this book is. It would most properly be termed a graded grammar. It is not a book to teach you to memorize how to ask the location of nearest bathroom. The focus is on the written modern language, with some discussion of classical Persian as well. Now, because it *is* a grammar, it uses actual grammatic terminology. Some reviewers are apparently shocked by this. So, if you're not familiar with that terminology, you may actually have to use an English dictionary to look up some words. It's pretty difficult to learn a language on your own without understanding some grammar. There are very expensive and time-consuming courses in some languages that will drill you through all the various grammatical forms without explaining what they are, or using any hard English words (but nothing like this is available in Persian, anyway.) So, get over it, and use a dictionary. I'm using this book to learn how to read Persian. It's pretty good for that, and quite thorough. It would be useful as an adjunct resource if you want to learn to speak Persian, but not as your primary resource. It doesn't have the appropriate sort of drills and tapes for learning to speak. The drills are of the more traditional two-way translation variety. The major weakness of the book, as others have pointed out, is the lack of keys to exercises. For me, it's not a big problem, because if you're learning to read a language, you can usually tell when you've figured out the right translation, because things will just "click". If you wanted to learn to write to your Persian friend in Persian, this would be a major problem, as you really need a key to the exercises, because you'll make little grammatical errors that you won't catch without a key. A minor weakness is the presentation of the alphabet. Everything you need to know about the Persian script is presented in the introduction to this book. However, it's presented in a very concise format, so what you'll have to do is use this information to make up your own drills with flash cards, etc., so you have a good handle on the alphabet before you start. That's what I did, and it worked fine. You may also want to either get the tapes associated with the book, or get another course where the focus is on speaking. I say this only because I've had real trouble in the past learning to read languages where I didn't have a firm grasp on what the language sounded like. For some reason, I can teach myself to read much better if I can hear the words in my head. The tapes with the book are fine for that, with good, clear, slow pronunciation, but they're not good for learning to speak, because, again, they don't have the appropriate sort of drills. So, in summary, it's quite good for learning to read, so-so for learning to write, and useful only as a secondary resource for learning to speak.
Rating:
Summary: Technical but precise
Review: For those who want to be able to read and write Persian, Thackston is essential. Wheeler M. Thackston has a masterful array of English grammatical terms at his disposal and he uses them wisely to give a precise understanding of Persian grammar. Each grammatical point is lavishly illustrated by several examples. The exercises at the end of each chapter sensibly use the vocabulary, and rigorously re-inforce the grammar, introduced in the same chapter. The technical language and grammatical approach may be off-putting for a beginner, but I managed to teach myself chapters 1 to 18 (out of a total of twenty-five)in about four months of constant study (a couple of hours most days)which allowed me to enter and subsequently complete a second year Persian course as part of an undergraduate degree. However, I was already familiar with the Arabic script and I did need a little English grammar book to explain the meaning of terms such as "predicate" and "copula". The tapes should help you to pronounce words correctly but I did not use them when I was teaching myself. The book does not feature many conversations to emulate and useful phrases appear in grammatical, but not necessarily subject, order. There are some useful thematic vocabulary sections such as food and clothing. If your primary objective is to speak Persian, look elsewhere. Completing this book will provide a platform from which the grammar necessary to read newspapers and simple literature is second nature. In addition, it should allow the spoken language to be rapidly acquired in a Persian speaking environment.
Rating: 
Summary: Forbidding for the beginner.
Review: I am a native speaker of Farsi, teaching myself to read and write in that language. I could not imagine using this book to teach myself the language as a whole from the beginning. Needless to say, if you do not have any prior exposure to Farsi, this is not the textbook for you, unless you happen to be admirably perseverant. I would recommend instead "Colloquial Persian: The Complete Course for Beginners" by Abdi Rafiee. Although geared more toward conversational Persian, this book is structured and written in a more lucid style, while managing still to be quite thorough. It contains a key to the exercises and a tape to aid with pronunciation, neither of which are included with Thackston's book.
Rating:
Summary: the BEST for Learning Persian
Review: I have purchased all of the books and CDs for learning Persian and this along with Modern Persian a Complete Course from the Teach Yourself Series by John Mace are the only books worth buying. I bought the Learn to Speak Farsi CD for 150, Colloquial Persian, etc and this is the only one which really helped me. Thackston truly knows the Persian language and how to teach it. It IS technical but how else do you expect to learn a language? If you are just looking to learn a few phrases like "where are you from" or how to get a taxi than buy the Colloquial Persian books which is good for that and for conversation. If you want to really learn Persian however it is crucial that you obtain Thackston's book. Khuda hafiz!
Rating: 
Summary: Awful awful awful
Review: I keep hoping that someday I'll find a comprehensive text on Persian. This one ain't it. It's introduction to the alphabet isn't even as good as Mace's in the nightmarish "Teach Yourself Persian". The book isn't sold with tapes, and, from an old record (Conversaphone, anybody remember those?) its description of Persian pronunciation isn't right on the money either. The author's style of exposition is dense to the point of legalese. Having worked my way through the book, it still isn't clear to me when to use third-person singular verbs, and when to use third-person plural verbs, when talking about a plural subject. Does it depend which side of the bed you got out of this morning? If it does, say so! There are some of us out here who aren't looking to read inscriptions on 2000-year old urns. Some of us want to be able to talk to cabdrivers (especially when we go to their home country). Finally, and this is inexcusable: No key to the exercises? If the publisher is not trying to sell this book to people trying to teach themselves the language, why is it being sold in bookstores? I purchased my copy in a bookstore in downtown San Francisco. What is an autodidact supposed to do? Besides dialing out for pizza?
Rating:
Summary: a major disappointment
Review: I keep hoping that someday I'll find a comprehensive text on Persian. This one ain't it. It's introduction to the alphabet isn't even as good as Mace's in the nightmarish "Teach Yourself Persian". The book isn't sold with tapes, and, from an old record (Conversaphone, anybody remember those?) its description of Persian pronunciation isn't right on the money either. The author's style of exposition is dense to the point of legalese. Having worked my way through the book, it still isn't clear to me when to use third-person singular verbs, and when to use third-person plural verbs, when talking about a plural subject. Does it depend which side of the bed you got out of this morning? If it does, say so! There are some of us out here who aren't looking to read inscriptions on 2000-year old urns. Some of us want to be able to talk to cabdrivers (especially when we go to their home country). Finally, and this is inexcusable: No key to the exercises? If the publisher is not trying to sell this book to people trying to teach themselves the language, why is it being sold in bookstores? I purchased my copy in a bookstore in downtown San Francisco. What is an autodidact supposed to do? Besides dialing out for pizza?
Rating:
Summary: A brilliant Persian grammar
Review: I wish I had had this book when I was living in Iran! It is concise, accurate, and extremely helpful. Naturally, if you have a serious intention to learn Persian, you will surely wind up with more than one book on your shelf. But this definitely should be among them! Highest recommendation!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent! The best Persian language tutorial I've seen.
Review: Out of about 6 books (one with tapes) teaching Persian, this ranks as the top. Thackston demonstrates an incredibly in-depth knowledge of the language and culture, and gives the detail needed for a student to "get the feel" necessary to utilize the power of Farsi/Persian. It is most-exquisitely approached from a foreign speaker's perspective - giving comfortable basics and progressing naturally through even the most intricate details.
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