I recently purchased this title, hoping to add another small mahjong set to my collection for playing traditional multi-player mahjong. That's not what this set is for.
The book portion does describe a bit of the history of the game, continuing into the use of the tiles as a solitaire game. The book is easy to read and has a very friendly style.
The tiles themselves are nice to look at and are indeed magnetic, and are probably nice to use for mahjong solitaire. I am having a hard time figuring out how to use the tiles in a regular game of mahjong. Imagine playing mahjong with tiles that stick to each other when you shuffle them, stick to each other in the wall (top to bottom and side to side), but are too thin to stand up on their own, and too light to stay on a regular rack. They would stick to metal racks, but those are unusual.
If you like mahjong solitaire (Shanghai or Taipei) so much that you want to play it without a computer (so you don't get undo, or hints, or can even be sure you have a winnable layout), or want a set to put on your fridge (where my set will likely end up) this is just the thing for you.
But if you want to play mahjong with three other people, I'd take a pass on this item.