Carpe Diem: How to Become a Latin Lover

It is sad to say that some of the people that reviewed this book showed an ample amount of vindictive behaviour towards Harry Mount and his book. Frankly, most of them act like pendejos and pieces of khraa (merde if you understand French), that it makes me want to stay as far away that I can from the world of classical antiquity. I am sixteen, and study Latin ardently at school and whenever I can; my dream is to become a Classics professor. Yet, seeing the way that people get treated in this kind of business definitely makes me realise that my time could better be spent doing something useful. Sure I love history and linguistics, and yes I think they are both beneficial, but the attitudes of all the snobs that think they know everything is so repelling, I might just be better apt sacrificing my useless life into something that doesn't have such an odour of snobbery. The book was not all that bad, and honestly it did a great job in even attracting my friends at school into Latin. Not only did they think it humorous, but they asked me to help them find out more about the language itself. If the tradition of Latin is to be carried on, it can not be so convoluted that it ceases to attract a generation willing to hold up its banner. As one progresses in the language then it is acceptable that one should learn the intricacies of said language, but how would someone want to learn a language that is perceived as impossibly difficult and stand-offish from the get go? All in all, I think the older generation should be more encouraging to those younger concerning the studies of classical languages and histories. Only then will knowledge and love of Latin increase. Another thing that upsets me is the way Mount is treated for simply being British. Now don't take this the wrong way, I love America and am proud of my country, but Americans are the most unaccepting sort there is. All the places I have travelled have accepted me and tried to understand American culture. Right away, some people simply chided Mr. Mount for being British. Well, it is not his fault he is British. Valgame Dios!!! If you can't even take a step to try to overlook the fact that he is not American then obviously you will hate the book.

I have never studied Latin (other than memorizing a bunch as an altar boy back in the day) nor do I intend to, but after having read "Carpe Diem" I certainly understand a lot more than I did about Latin grammar and how it works. The book is also chock full of interesting anecdotes and bits of history concerning Latin that is well worth reading even if you do skip over the grammar parts.

This is an excellent Latin primer - set forth in an engaging, yet competent fashion. I studied Latin in high school and reading the book brought back the language with a rush. It's not a novel or a collection of useful sayings such as "Latin for the Illiterati" or "Amo, Amas. Amat and More". but for anyone with an interest in Latin at any level of understanding, it is a worthwhile buy.

If you read some of the other reviews here you'll probably notice some of the people Mount mentions in his book. The ones pointing out all the little "errors" Mount left in his text, those folks are snobs, Mount calls them wankers, they piss and moan about the state of the language, but then go out of their way to make it seem as daunting and intimidating as possible. That kind of attitude isn't going to get students interested in Classical history, and it most definitely isn't going to fill chairs in a Latin class. Mount doesn't cover ever single little rule because it isn't in his interest to do so. He only states a dozen or so times that his intent is to give the average person enough information to translate the bits and pieces of vestigial Latin our civilization retains. His audience doesn't need to know that the supine occasionally declines with a -u and not an -um! In this, Mount succeeds wonderfully! His little book is a great primer to the subject, his examples are of his own construction and use people and places we've all heard of. He covers all the basics and even has a few tests. If a reader picks the book up, reads it, and leaves with a desire to dig a little deeper into the subject, I'm elated! It is only through such small victories that interest in Latin will ever be renewed.

This book isn't one of those frighteningly complex-looking book full of tables, rules and vast reams of incomprehensible text; Carpe Diem is, instead, an amusing book with lots of prose discussing how we view Latin in today's world, as well as some amusing reminiscences of Harry Mount's various Latin teachers, architectural history and more. The prose is well written and informative with a light touch and referring to people including David Beckham, Angelina Jolie, various US presidents and, of course, lots of dead people from the classical era, although hints of his public school education come through in some of the language he uses. Nestled within this are occasional tables with Latin declensions or conjugations, very short lists of vocabulary, occasional photographs and some Latin quotations (always translated). This book works just as well for people who don't have any Latin at all; whilst they'll probably skim through the various noun, verb and adjective tables there is still lots of Latin scattered amongst the prose (always explained) which makes you realise how many Latin words we actually use. It's not entirely clear who this book is for, as it's not a serious scholarly work for the Latin learner and it's not a beginner's guide for the Latin newbie - it's probably more of an enjoyable book for those who learned some Latin years ago and remember it with the fondness of time, having forgotten about the evils of learning endless lists of awkward words, as well as an amusing tour through history and other aspects by an excellent writer. This book was previously published in the UK under the title 'Amo, Amas, Amat... And All That' and was one of the publishing success stories of 2006. Originally published for Curled Up With A Good Book, www.curledup.com. © Helen Hancox 2007