After years of studying Japanese, the "Kanji in Context" series is by far the best kanji study series I have encountered.There really is no "magic method" to learning kanji, but this series lays out the tracks for you, so that all you have to do is provide the effort and serious study time to be well on your way to literacy. Also, kanji-based vocabulary is introduced in order of usefulness, so you'll find yourself learning useful words with every lesson. Kanji are not much use when memorized one at a time "out of context," so it's great to learn actual coumpound words that a kanji is used in right away. If you're really serious about learning kanji, buy this book and the two accompanying workbooks! In fact, All the language-study materials I've seen published by The Japan Times are of the utmost quality!