What it does is make the Kanji familiar to you. It makes them so familiar to you, that when you see them, you instinctively think, "I know that one," so when you encounter it, you may not know the reading in Japanese, but you feel familiar with it. It's hard to explain until you experience it, I guess.
I think of RTK1 as juggling 2,042 balls in the air so I can tag them with Japanese readings at my leisure. Having done RTK1, I can say that I can spot them in the air a LOT faster than I could than before I did it, just from getting familiar with the various "primitives" as Heisig calls them. It also makes it a lot easier to grab a wild kanji in the field and break it down.
It's the sort of thing you're either going to get an "Aha!" moment over or you're not, and you'll move on to something better suited to your learning style.
I'd recommend downloading the 125-page sample of the book and giving it a go, and seeing if you get it. If you don't, then you can save yourself $20.
I think of RTK1 as juggling 2,042 balls in the air so I can tag them with Japanese readings at my leisure. Having done RTK1, I can say that I can spot them in the air a LOT faster than I could than before I did it, just from getting familiar with the various "primitives" as Heisig calls them. It also makes it a lot easier to grab a wild kanji in the field and break it down.
It's the sort of thing you're either going to get an "Aha!" moment over or you're not, and you'll move on to something better suited to your learning style.
I'd recommend downloading the 125-page sample of the book and giving it a go, and seeing if you get it. If you don't, then you can save yourself $20.