Alpha Teach Yourself French in 24 Hours

This book has a lot of good info. I don't think it would be a good starter book. I have studied French for a couple years, so I have somewhat of an understanding. This book is a good review, good practice for reading and writing. BUT - I think they try to cram too much into this book for someone who is a true beginner. It is very boring to read. Strictly the grammar and no real fun. And it can be misleading, he says something about conjugating 99% of French verbs, which may be true, he forgets to mention that the other 1% of the verbs not mentioned are VERY common and irregular verbs. Good for some solid review, but not much for a beginner. To me it is a review.

I have been actively learning french for almost a year now and have over 60 french texts on my shelf, some published in france. The thing that really stands out in this book is that the author seems to know the confusions the english speaking learners regularly run into, such as the difference between c'est and il est. I have not come across a book in my entire collection that explains this, but this book has one section devoted to just that. I also like the way things are arranged - each lesson is designed to be finished within an hour, and there is a test at the end of each section to reinforce your learning. With some texts you could spend a lot of time in one chapter and quickly give up due to the lack of sense of accomplishment. With this if you religiously devote an hour a day to it, you could really finish it within 24 days. I personally think this book is one of the more exceptional grammar texts out there, especially if you have not been exposed to french grammar at all. But obviously to master a language, you need to supplement your study with lots of different kinds of materials - audio tapes, video, story book, play, etc. One book can never be enough. But if you want to get a good head start with french grammar, this is a really good one to go with.