Signs Make Sense: A Guide to British Sign Language (Human horizons series)

I bought this book 5 weeks prior to beginning a sign language course. It takes some commitment to keep picking up this book and learning productively (I used people to test me on 10-20 signs per day) but it has proved an invaluable introduction to signing.

One thing to be aware of - not that this is a criticism of the book - is that regional adaptations to signs may require you to alter what you see in this book.

Overall, a great headstart to learning sign language. 5 thumbs up.

I wish I'd had this book from the beginning of bsl year 1. It really does make sense of why a sign is used and takes away the confusion. The text is well written and easy to understand. I would recommend it to anyone interested in British sign language. It does what it says on the front cover.

I need to echo the five stars of all the other reviewers.

In a sea of BSL books that just contain words and pictures, this actually makes sense of BSL. For example, instead of showing one finger as a person and two fingers on a hand as a person walking, it goes into how all the different ways and words in which a person can be represented by one finger - or two fingers in the case of walking and other related words. There is also sensible grouping - all the "thinking/knowing/forgetting" words together with signs grouped around the head. And a section representing all the "good" words with the "good"/thumbs-up handshape.

And as such, you read the book once, and you remember the signs you've seen.

Again, by far the best I've seen (of around 8 books).

I bought this book almost on a whim and found it exceptional to work from. It is very clear to read and the illustrations are easy to decipher and learn from. It gives a solid basis to progress from on your own, and also useful back up to any classes you may take. A good place to start.

not much to say really, other than this is well written, easy to work with and one I would recommend to anyone setting out to learn signing.