At least, a copy that isn't ridiculously overpriced ($200~) or outdated by many, many years (Edition ~2). There aren't even copies on Ebay!

Why the heck is this book so rare, if it's so effective?!

Also, I was really looking forward to Edition 5 of RTK, but I don't know any information on it.

What should I do?

It is being reprinted very shortly. In the meantime, you can use the sample which covers the first couple hundred. You can find the pdf on this website:

http://www.nanzan-u.ac.jp/SHUBUNKEN/publ...anji_1.htm

I can't believe this, I'm about 400 kanji in and I left my book in SFO airport! Does anyone have a date that the 5th edition is supposed to be reprinted?

Also, if anyone is willing to sell their book if they have completed, I would be willing to purchase it at a good price.

You don't really need the book - you can infer everything from study area of this site.

I'm gonna disagree with you about inferring everything from the study area.
In the book, Heisig lays out everything very well and gives you an understanding of how
and why he organizes things. A lot of it gives direction to your studies and helps out a lot.

snozle Wrote:Does anyone have a date that the 5th edition is supposed to be reprinted?

Yes, it's this May -- which should mean the beginning of the month, possibly even towards the end of this month if bookstores receive shipments from the warehouse quickly.

chamcham Wrote:I'm gonna disagree with you about inferring everything from the study area.
In the book, Heisig lays out everything very well and gives you an understanding of how
and why he organizes things. A lot of it gives direction to your studies and helps out a lot.

Yeah, I can't imagine where RoboTact got that idea. Most of the book's explanation is in the first section, but there's still a hell of a lot in the remainder, not to mention that it's important to see how he breaks the characters up into primitives.

There's nothing complex or original about what this system is about. Once you get a general idea and see examples of applying it in study area to use and extrapolate, you don't need any more guidance. Granted nicely laid out text describing it all in detail is more organized way to grok it than reading several sentences here and there plus adopting from example, but that's about it.

RoboTact Wrote:There's nothing complex or original about what this system is about. Once you get a general idea and see examples of applying it in study area to use and extrapolate, you don't need any more guidance.

Certainly this is the case by the time you are in RTK3, which is probably why that book fell out of print (and why it isn't bothering me since this site shows me the kanji order), but for at least the first 500 kanji, I think RTK1 is invaluable. The stories are quite good (at least to the level of some of the best posted here), and the primitive explanations are very helpful. Getting your mind conditioned to the Heisig method takes practice, and for me at least, a lot of his example stories helped with my own down the road.

I agree, especially regarding the primitive explanations. I think I would have missed a lot if I hadn't had the book for the parade/fiesta/etc kanji, or the garment primitive and its various positions (which change the meaning and sometimes even the hook).

ikmys Wrote:But for at least the first 500 kanji, I think RTK1 is invaluable. The stories are quite good (at least to the level of some of the best posted here), and the primitive explanations are very helpful. Getting your mind conditioned to the Heisig method takes practice, and for me at least, a lot of his example stories helped with my own down the road.

Playing devil's advocate, the free online sampler covers all of Part 1, I believe, which should be enough to learn how the Heisig method works and then just use the story sharing section of the site to extrapolate your own, although learning the Heisig primitives might be difficult.

I am selling my copies of RTK 1 and 2 - both in excellent condition. Please send me an email for the details.

Well, I've preordered the 5th version and in the meantime, though the legality is questionable, I've found a 4th edition PDF on a torrent site. I brought the PDF to a local staples print center and I have a book to use until I get my 5th version shipped.

I just saw a copy of RTK #1 and #2 , (3rd edition?) at a bookstore on Solano Ave. in Berkeley CA
http://www.pegasusbookstore.com/
They were used and going for about $20 each. Hope this helps somebody.

jwy2k2

It's only in hindsight that we can all say that Heisig's method is easy enough to figure out without reading his explanations and using his primitives explanations. I'm sure no one here has done it all without him.

dingomick Wrote:It's only in hindsight that we can all say that Heisig's method is easy enough to figure out without reading his explanations and using his primitives explanations. I'm sure no one here has done it all without him.

Which doesn't imply it's necessary - you just _can_ get the book, so you do.

RoboTact Wrote:

dingomick Wrote:It's only in hindsight that we can all say that Heisig's method is easy enough to figure out without reading his explanations and using his primitives explanations. I'm sure no one here has done it all without him.

Which doesn't imply it's necessary - you just _can_ get the book, so you do.

I don't have the book. Instead, I bought the flashcard set and read the free chapters online. That was enough to get me rolling. Later, I found this site, which fills in a lot of the gaps. In my opinion, given the available chapters and this website, the box of flashcards is more helpful than the book.

And there are free .pdf's that cover the flash cards. If you want to cover the printing costs, you could save even more money, in theory, at any rate.