Book Review: A Guide to Remembering Japanese Characters
My kanji book (A Guide to Remembering Japanese Characters by Kenneth G. Henshall) arrived over break, and is it ever awesome!
The book contains brief entries that excellently explain the etymology of each of the jōyō kanji. Each entry also contains pronunciations, examples, stroke count, suggestions for memorization, and a brief mnemonic. The mnemonics are (as in most textbooks) of inconsistent quality (some are just weird), but some are quite good, and the suggestions for memorization are useful. The book is well-indexed (the index of characters by reading is extremely helpful) and well cross-referenced (very useful when encountering new components in a complex kanji).
The only major strike against this book is its somewhat misleading title; it really should be called A Guide to the Origins of Japanese Characters or something similar. While some people (including myself) will find the etymological information alone to be a major help in learning and memorizing characters, some will find it far less helpful for that purpose.
Minor strikes against this book include the lack of kana readings (and the author somewhat confusingly writes both "ou" and "oo" as "ō") and the lack of stroke order (leaving that out was probably a good decision overall, though, since adding that would make the book quite a bit bigger and it's quite sizable as it is). It's worth noting that this is neither textbook nor kanji dictionary, nor is it a substitute for either. Still, I think this book is an excellent reference for any serious student of Japanese writing, preferably as a supplement to a good kanji textbook and dictionary.
The book contains brief entries that excellently explain the etymology of each of the jōyō kanji. Each entry also contains pronunciations, examples, stroke count, suggestions for memorization, and a brief mnemonic. The mnemonics are (as in most textbooks) of inconsistent quality (some are just weird), but some are quite good, and the suggestions for memorization are useful. The book is well-indexed (the index of characters by reading is extremely helpful) and well cross-referenced (very useful when encountering new components in a complex kanji).
The only major strike against this book is its somewhat misleading title; it really should be called A Guide to the Origins of Japanese Characters or something similar. While some people (including myself) will find the etymological information alone to be a major help in learning and memorizing characters, some will find it far less helpful for that purpose.
Minor strikes against this book include the lack of kana readings (and the author somewhat confusingly writes both "ou" and "oo" as "ō") and the lack of stroke order (leaving that out was probably a good decision overall, though, since adding that would make the book quite a bit bigger and it's quite sizable as it is). It's worth noting that this is neither textbook nor kanji dictionary, nor is it a substitute for either. Still, I think this book is an excellent reference for any serious student of Japanese writing, preferably as a supplement to a good kanji textbook and dictionary.