Chineasy is a book full of Chinese characters and illustrations designed to make learning to read Chinese characters fun and easy. Each character is incorporated into a drawing to help illustrate the meaning. Initially, I had fun trying to understand the characters and the meanings. It felt like solving a puzzle. However, the novelty wore off quickly. I did find it interesting that even though I did learn a number of Chinese characters, I still have no idea how to say any of the words.

I read this book as part of my personal challenge to read a book from every ten places of the Dewey Decimal System. This book is in the 490s. The 400s are the language category, and the 490s consist of pretty much every non-European language. (Many European languages get 10 numbers all of their own, while all languages of East and Southeast Asia are in 495.) I initiated this challenge of reading books from across the Dewey Decimal categories in an attempt to broaden my horizons and read books about things I wouldn't normally choose to read things about. Unfortunately, I fear the challenge will be dominated by the western world. ( )