Title: Kanji no Satori
Description: From the back cover:

Many students of Japanese find learning kanji to be the hardest part of mastering the language. Not just the characters themselves, but also how they are used, seems quite complicated and mysterious. This book is designed to clear up that mystery, giving the kanji learner insight into what is really going on with the characters, and most importantly, building a solid foundation for learning that makes mastering thousands of characters not seem like an impossible task. The book thoroughly covers important topics such as how the characters are constructed and how they are used in the writing of the Japanese language, and is a great asset to any student of Japanese.
Time periods: the Chinese writing characters - their history and use in Japanese