It's easier to be a critic than an author; much easier in the case of "Dari Dictionary & Phrasebook." An internet search on "Nicholas Awad" introduces a true polyglot, from Hausa to Armenian, and it appears from the content of this work that Awad and his collaborators have a mastery of classical Persian -- and a very quirky understanding of Afghan Dari. It's an excellent phrase book, but many of the Dari terms used would raise eyebrows from Mazar to Kabul. If you don't mind occasionally being in the position of a guy walking into a biker bar and saying, "Ho, good innkeeper, willst thou draw me a draught of your finest ale?", this book provides an interesting, and indeed useful, introduction to Dari. Provided the barman gets beyond your initial, "Ho . . ." The pronounciations sometimes follow the Iranian more than the Afghan model, many of the words use the Iranian rather than the Afghan varient (q.y., beer, strawberry), many of the phrases are far more flowery than commonly used, and the pronunciation guide and the verb forms used -- well, an additional expression that could well have been used in the book is "be-resh" which literally means "beardless" but the metaphorical meaning transcends "campy." Go ahead and buy this book if you are heading toward Afghanistan; your ear will quickly atune you to the pronunciation and verb forms commonly used. Think of Dari as probably the easiest language for a native English speaker to learn, perhaps the second easiest after Malay, study the book, and be confident in your conversation with Afghans. Most of them are pretty forgiving in matters of language.