Latin for Reading: A Beginner's Textbook with Exercises |  | Authors: Glenn M. Knudsvig, Ruth S. Craig, Gerda Seligson
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
Category: Book
List Price: $26.95
Buy New: $14.99
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Avg. Customer Rating:  7 reviews
Sales Rank: 852357
Media: Paperback
Edition: Revised
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 464
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.4
Dimensions (in): 11 x 8.5 x 1
ISBN: 0472080644
Dewey Decimal Number: 478.2421
EAN: 9780472080649
ASIN: 0472080644
Publication Date: April 15, 1986
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
This text enables students to learn to read Latin
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| Customer Reviews: Read 2 more reviews...
 Perhaps the best introductory Latin book available January 21, 2006
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book is wonderful.
I used Latin for Reading for two semesters of a three semester beginning Latin sequence.
The book approaches learning Latin from an adult perspective. It does not talk down to the student. This book explains what you are doing and why.
Latin for Reading will give you a fine Latin vocabulary and a nearly complete overview of Latin Grammar in two semesters. The subject (Latin) is presented in a concise, logical and very approachable manner. In the process of using this text you will also acquire an excellent foundation for English grammar - really quite an accomplishment. (English grammar is not something well taught in American high schools today).
The above cannot be said for any other foreign language book I have seen offered at an introductory university level. (French, Spanish, German).
I must say, I did not appreciate what a superb book this is - until I began taking other foreign languages. When I had something to compare this book to - its quality became apparent.
I would like to extend my thanks to authors. Thank you for writing such an outstanding book.
Please note - The review by James C Caldwell is for a teachers manual - it is not for this text.
 No Help March 17, 2002
3 out of 6 found this review helpful
This "teacher's guide" is by it's own admission a preliminary edition, would that the authors had finished what they started.
This is book is practically worthless as a compainion to "Latin for Reading". All it adds is the translation of a few of the
exercises and no guide to the overview of the rather different approach to teaching Latin that is the heart of "Latin for Readers".
An invaluable tool. March 19, 2000
9 out of 10 found this review helpful
I admit that I am a biased reviewer - I had Professor Knudsvig as my instructor in an Introductory Latin course at the University of Michigan. I would go on to earn a teaching certificate in Latin, as well as Mathematics, and use his text, Latin for Reading, in my first teaching assignment.I had access to other texts - the Cambridge series, Wheelock's text, and other material - but I chose Latin for Reading as the foundation for my teaching approach. While other texts provide a greater breadth of vocabulary, extended prose, (many exercises in Latin for Reading are 2-3 sentences at most), and historical references, this text provides a fundamental and carefully constructed analytical approach to learning the grammar, syntax and semantics of the Latin language. For those who would suggest that the exercises in this text are overly difficult, I would suggest that as opposed to other approaches to Latin study, this text, and its concepts of 'kernelling' and sentence mapping, demand an understanding of language at the most basic of levels. In fact, I would use this book as a supplement for any linguistics course. I highly recommend this book.
 If Gradgrind taught Latin... June 7, 1999
11 out of 12 found this review helpful
This book is recommended for those who are more interested in charting and graphing sentences than learning Latin. The focus is primarily upon dismantling sentences and placing them on "kernal charts," with little or no emphasis on reading. The "basic sentences" frequently contain material not yet covered. It is poorly glossed. In its favor, the book moves relatively slowly through paradigms, addressing the cases as need arises. And, if one works through the book, one is likely to accidently learn some Latin. However, the same end could be reached with almost any other book. I know half a dozen other languages, and have never seen a less efficient textbook. Like Gradgrind, the authors of this text seem hellbent on making certain that learning Latin is not tainted by pleasure. Despite wonderful instructors, this book left me with a dread of approaching Latin class.
The only approach that truly makes sense! January 30, 1999
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
The common texts that have been around since Julius Caesar do not teach learners to "read" Latin. The approach used in Latin For Reading is well tested and works. There is no magic bullet for reading the classics. The magic is in the systematic and linguistic approach used in this text to teach students to read Latin. Only those "poor souls" who are still memorizing declensions in a vacuum will have difficulty appreciating this masterpiece. I taught Latin using this text and couldn't imagine teaching it any other way.
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