Useful Books & Resources

Whilst books and computer-based resources are no substitute for Mandarin classes there are books that can support your studies. Here are some good books you might be interested in.

Talk Mandarin Today
250 Essential Chinese Characters
Beginner's Chinese
Chinese in a Flash

A good dictionary is always useful, one of the better being The Oxford Starter Chinese Dictionary which can be obtained from Amazon:

The Oxford Starter Chinese Dictionary

Here are some good websites if you can access the Internet.

Pinyin Practice
Chinese Pod
Real Chinese
Chinese Lessons - Mandarin