Hi there, I know this might sound a bit stingy, but is it really worth buying the book RTK1? I mean, I have started studying the first part of the book, which I found as a sample on the internet, so I have understood the method proposed. Then I found this very useful website and, to be honest, I find that many of the stories created by myself or by other people strike my imagination (and therefore help me with my memorization) better than Heisig's stories. I find many of them too abstract or connected with religion or other myths than I don't even know. So, my question is, is there anyone who learned with this method without actually buying the book? Is it really worth buying it? Thanks for any comment. Laura

Well, I'm at a University, so I just borrowed the book from the library...

After Heisig cuts off his stories, he basically just leaves you with a list of kanji, and what primitives make them up. You can find lists in heisig order anywhere online, including this site (with stories!!!)

What you'll be missing out on is his introductions to new primitives. Sometimes his explanations are really helpful, other times someone online has changed it to something much better (人、糸, are Mr. T. and Spiderman, respectively, as opposed to Person and Thread)

I feel like I should tell you to buy the book, as it is a really good method and why wouldn't you reward Heisig for all his work? But I used my library's, so I didn't pay either. Honestly, you could get by just using this site.

I own a copy, its nice to have, but not strictly necessary.

In the end its up to you. It's about $25 dollars on Amazon.

I find that its useful when trying to explain the method to others.

Do we even need Heisig's book anymore? - http://forum.koohii.com/showthread.php?tid=1625

Do I honestly NEED the book? - http://forum.koohii.com/showthread.php?tid=1761

Is the book really necessary - http://forum.koohii.com/showthread.php?tid=2235

Oh my god! Only 25 USD!! That's amazing, there's an Spanish version which costs like 80 USD, and in my country (taking in account the poorness, the cost of living and the salaries) that's too much. I was really considering buying the second book RTK2 after finishing the first one, but from what I've read I think it may not be a good option for learning the readings.

Thanks for all your comments. It's the first time I'm using this forum and I admit I didn't search enough for similar questions, so sorry if I have been repetitive. I will pay more attention in the future. ^^ Btw, I see your point. It's not strictly necessary, but as it's not too expensive, it would be nice to buy it. Both for myself and Heisig. Thanks a lot everybody and apologies again. Talk ya soon.

Wether or not the book is "necessary" I still bought it to support the author who has brought this method of learning to higher appeal. If I had not heard of the Heisig method i'd still be struggling through JLPT lists.

I got my book before I found this site
but even so I would buy it if I didn't have it
a lot of primitives are not in this site (which is kinda meh actually, since I would like some other stories on few primitives...)

There should be a sticky on this subject!!

Personally I wouldn't want to study RtK without the book. Things the book is useful for:

- Introduction of new primitives. this site doesn't have them. You could work them out yourself by examining new kanji and looking at what people have put in their stories, but Heisig gives a nice background explanation which helps fix new primitives in my memory.

- Correct look of kanji. Many kanji are written different to how they appear on the screen via computer fonts. The most obvious example is heart 心. If you only copied the kanji off the screen, you'd be writing everything wrong.

- Stroke order. The book gives stroke order of every kanji in a quick concise diagram. this is especially useful as probably 1/30 kanji have a non-standard stroke order. Unless you want to look up online every kanji's stroke order as you learn it, it's quicker to just quickly glance at the book.

- Heisigs writing is funny and enjoyable. I love the reading the book. Also the guy deserves some payback for creating this amazing method.

I have just ordered the book! It's gonna be a little more expensive than 25$, because I live in Ireland and I ordered it from Amazon.co.uk. Totally (book + shipping) I paid 32€ (=26£), but I thought it was worth to buy it for all the reasons you mentioned above. Thanks guys!

Of course, if you can't / don't want to pay for the book, you can always... uh.... "acquire" it with a certain google search

OMG! For the sake of all that is holy... Please not again!

What the book has, which this website hasn't:

-A great, really well-written introduction (and little "pep-talks" between lessons) which helps you understand the method and study efficiently. But you can read the intro in the "sample" of the book on this website.

-Stroke order (useless if you already have been studying Japanese seriosuly, e.g. at university; ESSENTIAL if you are a complete beginner, though I'd expect any learner's kanji dictionary to have explanations on stroke order as well)

-Introduction of new primitives as you go along. Yeah, that's the most useful actually. Though without the book you can still figure out the new primitives by yourself, using people's stories. (Or just get a hold of a .pdf of the book, even if that does feel like stealing).

I must say that I haven't bought it (I work with a pdf file and koohii), and if I bought it it would purely be to show Heisig some support, as I much prefer working with the computer than with a book. I know that will buy a Heisig book in the future though, because this method is doing SO MUCH for me (might well be saving my degree!)... I think I'll buy RTK2 as soon as I am done with RTK1, and RTK1 and 3 later, like, when I am no longer a broke student and I'm "bulding a library".