Rating: 
Summary: Thorough and grammatically precise but often confusing
Review: This is a good introduction for written Persian language used in present-day Iran, but for a beginning student it can also seem a bit daunting (excessive use of grammatical terms often makes it more useful to look at Thackston's examples than read his explanations, for example). Also his habit of introducing bits and pieces of the same grammatical point in various parts of the book hampers its usefulness as a reference book. Lack of a key to the exercises has already been mentioned, but another frustrating point is Thackston's somewhat vague dictionary in the end of the book - many common words have not been included since you are supposed to be familiar with them, but this is a hindrance if you just want to check out the correct spelling of an already familiar term. I learned my Persian from this book and was reading texts by the middle of my fourth month of study, so the book *is* effective in teaching you the grammar, but by the time I finished it I was thoroughly tired of it and its minor but all-too-frustrating faults. Personally I would recommend Elwell-Sutton for a beginner - especially since it has a gentler approach to introducing the script.
Rating: 
Summary: Should come with an English Dictionary
Review: While Thackston is obviously well educated in eastern studies, and knows his Arabic and Persian, he ought to keep in mind that not everyone who will purchase his book is a Harvard professor (or student for that matter), and really ought to write at a level that most can comprehend. Though I plead ignorance to the terms "indefinite enclitic", "non-restrictive and subordinate clause" and "antecedent functions", I have managed to come as far as I have with spoken and written Persian without knowing these terms, and without knowing the Persian that I already know, I would have absolutely no idea what was being discussed -- so much for "An Introduction" to Persian. It should also be noted that there is a fair amount of Arabic structure used, inappropriately at times, throughout the book. While Arabic has had an undeniable effect on modern Persian, characters such as te-tammat and alef-madde are never used in written Persian, and therefore are completely inappropriate for this text. In closing, if not for my immense interest in this subject, I would not have made it past page 10. "An Introduction To Persian" would serve as an excellent artifact for the old, dry, and boring foreign language texts we all saw in High School; but unless you are an English Grammer major, or one of Thackston's Harvard colleagues, I can tell you that you will find yourself quite frustrated with this text.
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