- Hardcover: 288 pages
- Publisher: Short Books Ltd; illustrated edition edition (2 Nov 2006)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1904977545
- ISBN-13: 978-1904977544
- Product Dimensions: 19.8 x 13.4 x 3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 121,047 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Those endless afternoons where you struggled to remember the third person singular present indicative of volo (vult) may be a long time ago. But, if you have the vaguest memory of the ablative absolute, the locative and the gerund, you mastery of Latin will spring back to life with Amo, amas, amat...and all that. In his trip through the world's most influential language, Harry Mount uncorks its magic, drawing on Latin lovers from Kingsley Amis to John Cleese, from Evelyn Waugh to Donna Tart. Read this book and you will know Latin. Know Latin and - mirabile dictu - you will know Wilfred Owen's misery, Catullus's aching heart and the comedy of a thousand bachelor schoolmasters.
About the Author
Harry Mount read Classics at Oxford and was a Latin tutor before becoming a journalist. He has been a leader-writer and New York correspondent at the Daily Telegraph. His memoir of his time as a barrister's pupil, My Brief Career, is also published by Short Books
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
52 of 56 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I was very surprised to see some of the negative reviews that this book has received here. I am a recently qualified Latin teacher, and I have recent experience of Latin from both sides of the teacher / student divide. I found the book to be thoroughly entertaining and informative, occasionally downright hilarious, and it consistently held my attention.
I think the discrepancies in the reviews above are largely due to people's misguided expectations of the book. It is not (nor could it possibly be used as) a reference work by which one could expect to learn the language. Its audience is probably limited to those who already have a reasonable knowledge of Latin, and, put simply, the author aims to reward your knowledge (no matter how basic) with some clever 'in jokes' and literary references. He does so, in my opinion, with a good deal of skill and success.
I think the discrepancies in the reviews above are largely due to people's misguided expectations of the book. It is not (nor could it possibly be used as) a reference work by which one could expect to learn the language. Its audience is probably limited to those who already have a reasonable knowledge of Latin, and, put simply, the author aims to reward your knowledge (no matter how basic) with some clever 'in jokes' and literary references. He does so, in my opinion, with a good deal of skill and success.
89 of 102 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I couldn't believe I would enjoy a book based on the latin language and how it might affect the way I go about my life, but having been given a copy of Amo, Amas, Amat I could not put it down. Not only is it written with great wit and intelligence, but it really makes understanding Latin easy in a way I could never have believed possible when it was taught to me at school. Thank you, Harry Mount, for finally bringing Latin to life for me.
48 of 61 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
if you've ever dreamed of loving Livy, pleasing Pliny or even hating Horace, if you think the difference between the gerund and the gerundive is just a matter of Hobson's choice, then this is a book for you. The author must have really drunk deeply from his Latin master's cup to be able to impart the pleasures of Latin, but impart them he does. If you liked Gladiator but want to find out about the real thing, then give this a go.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Pleasant ramble through Latin
I really enjoyed this, it's a chatty breeze through Latin sentence construction with lots of stories in-between and a useful phrase section at the back. Read more
Published 3 months ago by A. I. Mackenzie
A breezy intro to Latin
This book is an ideal breezy and chatty accompaniment to a traditional grammar primer, and warrants re-reading when your head is spinning with too much of the serious stuff. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Daniel Vincent
good
Book received as specified. There was a mark on cover like a label had been removed,not ideal as a present
Published on 1 Jan 2010 by Mrs. Susan Claxton
Worth reading
Excellent Book.
Really takes you back to your latin lesssons. It explains things that i didn't understand then!
Really takes you back to your latin lesssons. It explains things that i didn't understand then!
Published on 15 Aug 2009 by Deb M
Entertaining read but not a learning tool
I was given this book by Secret Santa in my office last Christmas (presumably because I have some Roman numerals tattooed on my arm). Read more
Published on 17 July 2009 by LXIX
Amo
Amo,Amas,Amat is a pleasure to read, witty and amusing and, of course, very informative. For anyone interested in language it is a must. Read more
Published on 9 Jun 2009 by Jeannie
quite funny, but with reservations
Amo, Amas, Amat... and All That
As a foreigner who, fortunately or unfortunately, has had his share of Cambridge university education (and social life) and cathedral choir... Read more
As a foreigner who, fortunately or unfortunately, has had his share of Cambridge university education (and social life) and cathedral choir... Read more
Published on 8 Jun 2009 by L. Ortega Sanchez
Fun but inaccurate
I lost count of the (mostly minor) errors in this book - the most glaring included putting AD after the date instead of before it (not normally a hanging offence, but in a Latin... Read more
Published on 16 May 2009 by J. Harrisson
I love, thou lovest, she loves
A very interesting and amusing recollection of School Latin, with an admixture of Latin we didn't know before.
Published on 4 Feb 2009 by Mr. A. W. Bridges
Lamenting less Latin
An entertaining run through Latin as the language of the classics.
Could have said something about pronunciation: why make it up as the classicists do, or mangle it as... Read more
Could have said something about pronunciation: why make it up as the classicists do, or mangle it as... Read more
Published on 27 Aug 2008 by William
Listmania!
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