She covers not only the basics, the "everything you want to know about Russia" -- she delights her readers by covering several things they may not have realized they wanted to know. For instance, the intelligentsia ordinarily shies away from discussing slang and "mat", perhaps thinking it beneath them. Yet Ms. Gerhart recognizes that, as a practical matter, this is something that simply has to be covered for people visiting or living in real-world Russia. You may not want to use bad words yourself, but you certainly want to know when the gentlemen in the flat-top haircuts and leather coats, walking towards you outside the metro station, are using them towards you... So in a completely proper and not at all vulgar manner, she tells you everything you really need to know about cursing in Russian -- along with a clear injunction to "not try this at home" yourself.
Personally, my favorite part of the book was her discussion of tools used in woodworking, a hobby of mine. I found the translations of these words, not commonly needed by a tourist in Russia, invaluable when I went on a short shopping spree seeking locally forged axes and chisels in podmoskovia. This section may not be for everyone, but it is demonstrative of a point I wish to make about the book as a whole: While not everything in the book may interest everyone, everyone who reads the book will find something that interests them -- perhaps something they never expected to find there.
Excerpt from the Special Achievement Award conferred upon the second edition of THE RUSSIAN'S WORLD by the Publications Committee of the American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages (AATSEEL) in December 1993.