Learning Chinese the Easy Way by Sam Song.

This first one is a great beginner's book for learning Mandarin characters. It uses stories & pictures, written mostly in English.

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Tuttle Learning Chinese Characters, Vol. 1: A Revolutionary New Way to Learn and Remember the 800 Most Basic Chinese Characters by Alison Matthews and Laurence Matthews

I have not personally used this book but it is very popular and highly reviewed on Amazon. It is also worth a look.

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Chinese (Mandarin), Conversational: Learn to Speak and Understand Mandarin Chinese with Pimsleur Language Programs by Paul Pimsleur

A fellow classmate of mine is a big fan of Pimsleur and recommends it. We started at the same time but his pronunciation quickly became better than mine.

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Chinese Characters: A Genealogy and Dictionary (English and Mandarin Chinese Edition) by Rick Harbaugh

It has 90+ reviews on Amazon with 4.5 stars. Must be a pretty good dictionary or reference book for learning Chinese characters.

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