I use "Essential Kanji" to learn the correct stroke order for writing kanji. The skillfully rendered brush and pen written characters are invaluable, and the "english names of radicals" appendix is pure gold. HOWEVER, this book desperately needs to be rewritten without any ROMAJI. Romaji is a curse which should be reserved for "Instant Japanese" tourist guides and the like. The starting point for learning kanji must certainly be the hiragana and katakana symbols, a trivial task by comparison. To use romaji in such a book makes no sense at all.

I was amazed at this book and the ammount of effort P.G.O'Neil and everyone who helped him put into it! This book is very good for people who want to study Japanese Kanji, but you have to have a basic knowledge of the langauge first. Serching for Kanji won't help if you don't know the amount of strokes in a ideogram. If you are for example reading a manga, and you have the kanji in front of you then this book can be helpful. It even gives you tips to remember the ideogram, which I find very helpful. Each kanji is written in 3 different ways, to give you a better feel of how to write it. It's written with the computer, with a ball pen and with a typical Japanese brush. Thats about all I have to say. Ok, I hope that was helpful. :-)

Wether for the casual learner or the dedicated student, this reference is excellent. It is an absolute must for anyone who needs a listing of Kanji. This book reads much like a dictionary, but is designed to teach as well as provide a valuable reference. I found the book to be very informative. The course described in the book is very practical and also leaves the reader to learn at their own pase. The calligraphy and writing in the book is of very high quality and with the stroke order marked on each and every character allows for easier learning of each of the 2000 Kanji presented.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a casual glance into Japanese or looking to travel to Japan someday and needs a firm grasp of the written language.