Remembering the Hiragana

Impressively effective teaching of the hiragana. I liked the author's memorization techniques, which involve creating mental pictures that reference both the shape and the sound of the hiragana. About half of his mental pictures didn't click for me so I ended up creating my own, and this worked out just fine because I was still using his technique.

One thing to note is the claim of teaching oneself the hiragana in 3 hours. I followed the time instructions, and I truly did learn the hiragana in about 3 hours, spread out over a couple days. However, I also practiced off the clock, and since completing the book I have practiced a lot to keep the information imprinted in my memory. I think that this is key: the book will teach you the hiragana in 3 hours, but to truly know it you will need to practice practice practice.