Not for me, but...
Learning American Sign Language as a 2d language takes some adjustments. You can always ask somebody to fingerspell an unfamiliar sign, but it's not like other languages where you can go to a dictionary and put in the unfamiliar word -- in this case a sign -- and see it in English.
This book tries to offer handshapes as a way to do that. I learned a different way. Yes, it took a fairly long adjustment period, but it was how I learned my current vocabulary.
I found the organization by handshape confusing. The very complex sequencing order by those shapes the book uses made it hard for me to know where a sign would appear within a topic.
Fortunately there is an index. There also is a topical arrangement. Other than in a sign dictionary arranged in alphabetical English order, both an index and topical arrangement is standard.
Possibly somebody just beginning to learn to sign will be helped by the handshape order, but I found myself falling back on my existing way of learning. I had to say if I would recommend this to a friend. My 'Yes, but...' headline says why that's not entirely without reservations.
