France Books

This was the second time I'd enjoyed this groundbreaking book-length photo essay by one of the pioneer French photojournalists. I'd first seen many of the very famous historic pictures when I was a student working on my BFA in the mid-1960's. I came across the book itself in the early 1970's but I don't think I read the text at the time because I seem to recall it was in French.
Having just finished actually reading this 1976 English translation I purchased, I'm even more impressed than I was long ago when I examined an earlier foreign version. Not only have the pictures themselves remained some of the best photographs of the era, but also they are still fresh and as relevant as they were at the time. The author-photographer liked to stroll through the dark alleys and byways of Paris with the likes of Man Ray, KiKi and Henry Miller among others. What impressed me most about this book at this time in my own life is that the photographer was either very, very brave or had a "death wish." Taking the pictures in this book was a very dangerous undertaking. The major players in the pictures included drug dealers, thugs, prostitutes and other unsavory characters of the shadowy Paris underbelly. Brassai was lucky not to have been robbed of more than his money and film holders during his continuing documentation of the Paris underworld. Simply being out in some of the dangerous streets where he set up his camera and tripod was taking his life in his hands. Obviously, photographing known criminals in their element made him and his valuable camera equipment a really tempting target for a mugging. Since the local criminals also hated "stool pigeons" or police informers, he was a convenient target of their fear of betrayal. Having a crime magazine editor add a caption to one of his gangster portraits that said "This murderer who..." brought that murderer crashing through Brassai's bedroom door in the middle of the night mad as Hell and brandishing his switchblade and yelling "So I'm a murder, am I...Then I'm going to kill you!" Fortunately, he settled for just robbing him of all his money.
This was the 1930's and Brassai was taking a bulky camera, tripod and the necessary flash equipment into Opium Dens for the wealthy and famous, illegal gambling dens, brothels, houses of illusion, the hidden club world of gay men and women, and dangerous bars where the crooks, pimps and thugs relaxed and conducted business or took revenge on (rubbed out) their competitors. There was no way he could hide the fact he was taking pictures--especially when his flash lit up the entire scene. He was a brave photographer who risked his life to show the insides of the officially unacknowledged flesh-peddling world of Paris life.
Even though the pictures in the book are all from the 1930's and sometimes have a dated and quaint look to them, something else becomes obvious to every viewer and reader of the pictures. It's obvious that nothing much has really changed since those legendary times in Paris. Even Brassai points out that the things he photographed had been going on in the same areas of Paris for centuries. They still do as any tourist to Paris can confirm. The more things change, the more things stay the same. Brassai's world still exists relatively unchanged and not just in Paris, but in almost every major city in the world. That fact makes this a timeless book and that's really something worth knowing.

Divided into 19 sections, each including a short essay on one subject (ex.: The Street Fair) with accompanying illustrations. Photographs include full-page printed to the edge of the paper (unfortunately also to the spine of the book), full-page with border, half and quarter page. Copyrights on most of the the photographs, listed in an appendix, range from 1931-33, a few are 1934.

Most of the 150 photographs are very good duotone reproductions, a few are less than great. My copy is a softcover, publ. by Thames & Hudson, 2001, labeled Printed in Italy on the back cover.

The subjects range from public toilets and their various uses, through petty underworld figures, gay nightclubs, prostitutes and brothels, bums, to backstage at the Folie-Bergere and an upper-class opium den. One interesting section deals with the annual "Balls" (read orgies) organized by the Schools of Medicine and the Arts on the Left Bank for their students. All get a sympathetic and nonjudgemental treatment. Overall an fascinating, but fragmented glimpse of Paris night life in the early 30's.

The photographs and stories in this book are truly remarkable. The underground world Brassai allows the reader to navigate is one that will leave a mark on your heart and tear at your soul. From lonely streetwalkers to the many faces of Parisian nightclubs, this amazing photographic journey gives a modern audience a true glimpse of what life was like in the 30s.

Don't let the title put you off, there is very little in this book that would shock a modern audience. Times certainly ain't what they used to be. Brassai's photos and writings of a time now long gone however will slowly infuse in you a strange and somewhat uncomfortable nostalgia for a time long before you were born and places you wouldn't visit had you been born. Removed so far in time, it's all very safe - perhaps.

This was a fantastic book and a long one (I like that). I took it on a ski vacation and was tempted to take it to the slopes with me. I finally realized that was not a great idea but I could hardly wait to get back to my room, get comfortable, and begin reading again.

"The Shuttle* was written in the early 1900's, but it shows the brutality of spousal abuse--mental and physical--with no holds barred. Gentle Rosalie undergoes years of cruel emotional battering which is described with absolute psychological accuracy. It turns out that her sister Bettina is strong and determined enough to save both of them. Sir Nigel's end is satisfying, although it might have been even better if he'd fallen into the pigpen and been devoured by swine. This is a very early and powerful feminist novel as well as a skillfully written, entertaining page-turner.

The book is set in the 19th century, but the heroine, Bettina Vanderpoel of the filthy rich New York Vanderpoels, is no shrinking violet. That role is left to her older sister, sweet and not overly bright Rosalie. The story starts out with Rosalie being courted by and married to Sir Nigel Anstruthers, an impoverished English aristocrat on the make for a rich wife. Although she is only eight at the time, Betty hates Sir Nigel. Her instincts are on the money. Sir Nigel is a rotter, a blackguard, a cad, and a bounder. He is utterly infuriated that he did not automatically gain control of Rosalie's money when he married her. He and his equally appalling mother start a loathsome campaign of emotional abuse that gentle Rosalie is not equal to. Luckily, by chapter five it is 12 years later and Bettina has grown into a fine, strong-minded woman who has all the business sense that made the Vanderpoel fortune. The rest of the book tells us how she rescues her sister, her nephew, and the Anstruthers estate from Sir Nigel. The hero of the book is another impoverished aristocrat, but cut from genuinely noble cloth, even if most of his ancestors were of the Sir Nigel type.
Before the book is over, Bettina will be trapped, injured, and at the mercy of Sir Nigel, who has Perfectly Awful plans for the lovely lady. Will Bettina wring her hands helplessly and beg?
Don't be silly. Read and see how love, virtue, and justice triumph and Sir Nigel gets his.

I have a 1907 edition of this book that I love.. I've read it several times and each time I savour the language and the world that Frances Hodgeson Burnett described before the First World War: a world of English village streets with sound of carts clattering past hawthorn hedges and brash young American boys bicyling in buttonup boots and celluloid collars up the pleached alleys of country estates.
I think that the previous reviewer has unfortunetely missed much of the subtlety of the story, painting it in almost comicbook colours. It's "comfort reading" for adults who grew up making friends with Little Lord Fauntleroy and a Secret Garden. This is a novel that celebrates the goodness of people and cultures on both sides of the Atlantic in tender and funny ways that remind me of Lousia May Alcott's books and in the end, metes out justice in very satisfying ways. You might also want to see if you can find F H Burnett's "T. Tembarom" --which is, as her characters themselves might put it, a "bang-up" book as well.

This was a fantastic book and a long one (I like that). I took it on a ski vacation and was tempted to take it to the slopes with me. I finally realized that was not a great idea but I could hardly wait to get back to my room, get comfortable, and begin reading again.

"The Shuttle* was written in the early 1900's, but it shows the brutality of spousal abuse--mental and physical--with no holds barred. Gentle Rosalie undergoes years of cruel emotional battering which is described with absolute psychological accuracy. It turns out that her sister Bettina is strong and determined enough to save both of them. Sir Nigel's end is satisfying, although it might have been even better if he'd fallen into the pigpen and been devoured by swine. This is a very early and powerful feminist novel as well as a skillfully written, entertaining page-turner.

The book is set in the 19th century, but the heroine, Bettina Vanderpoel of the filthy rich New York Vanderpoels, is no shrinking violet. That role is left to her older sister, sweet and not overly bright Rosalie. The story starts out with Rosalie being courted by and married to Sir Nigel Anstruthers, an impoverished English aristocrat on the make for a rich wife. Although she is only eight at the time, Betty hates Sir Nigel. Her instincts are on the money. Sir Nigel is a rotter, a blackguard, a cad, and a bounder. He is utterly infuriated that he did not automatically gain control of Rosalie's money when he married her. He and his equally appalling mother start a loathsome campaign of emotional abuse that gentle Rosalie is not equal to. Luckily, by chapter five it is 12 years later and Bettina has grown into a fine, strong-minded woman who has all the business sense that made the Vanderpoel fortune. The rest of the book tells us how she rescues her sister, her nephew, and the Anstruthers estate from Sir Nigel. The hero of the book is another impoverished aristocrat, but cut from genuinely noble cloth, even if most of his ancestors were of the Sir Nigel type.
Before the book is over, Bettina will be trapped, injured, and at the mercy of Sir Nigel, who has Perfectly Awful plans for the lovely lady. Will Bettina wring her hands helplessly and beg?
Don't be silly. Read and see how love, virtue, and justice triumph and Sir Nigel gets his.

I have a 1907 edition of this book that I love.. I've read it several times and each time I savour the language and the world that Frances Hodgeson Burnett described before the First World War: a world of English village streets with sound of carts clattering past hawthorn hedges and brash young American boys bicyling in buttonup boots and celluloid collars up the pleached alleys of country estates.
I think that the previous reviewer has unfortunetely missed much of the subtlety of the story, painting it in almost comicbook colours. It's "comfort reading" for adults who grew up making friends with Little Lord Fauntleroy and a Secret Garden. This is a novel that celebrates the goodness of people and cultures on both sides of the Atlantic in tender and funny ways that remind me of Lousia May Alcott's books and in the end, metes out justice in very satisfying ways. You might also want to see if you can find F H Burnett's "T. Tembarom" --which is, as her characters themselves might put it, a "bang-up" book as well.

A few of us inaugurated a book club for 3rd grade girls with this story and it was a great start for us.

This story is beautifully written and has many layers, it was great for the adults and interesting enough for the girls, despite the backdrop of a war and subject matter that is difficult for young people to relate to: should you stay and fight in a war that has depleted you and made you question why you are there and hurt your psyche badly or go home to your family?


There were a lot of unanswered questions at the end of our discussion. Who did the donkey represent? Did Lieutenant get home? Was John real or made up? What significance was the beetle in the end?

Even though we didn't have clear answers, the girls were satisfied with the questions and were inspired to keep reading. All in all, a very good story to read with and explain to a child under 12. 13 and older can probably understand the subject matter and get more depth from it without a parent's input.

This book is beautifully written, whimsical, as well as touching and folorn. Children and adults will love to read this one aloud together. The author does a masterful job of creating a poignant and believable story told in a fable- or fairytale-like style. I highly recommend this book, and I would also recommend the hard-cover edition with the embossed silver donkey on the cover. It is lovely, well-crafted, and a joy to hold and read. I believe this edition best matches the style of the book. I am convinced you will want to read this one again and again. Happy Reading!

A very well written tale, I was first attracted to this book by is very classic looking cover. It has its own little built in ribbon bookmark, so it already is a very attractive book. The story, two little french girls find a blind english soilder who has had to leave the war. He is blind and trying to get home. At first he is just a fun secret for the little girls to have to themselves, though they are always trying to help him (their father's second best razor, alot of food from the pantry, etc)

He has one posession that, Coco, the younger of the two finds especially appealing, a very small silver donkey. Each day as the girls help him he tells them a story that involves a donkey essentially as the hero, each of them has a sort of bitter sweet twist to them (there are four total).

Its a very well written story, Hartnett's prose has a lyricalness to it and the illustrations on the inside are very fitting, they appear to be rendered in charcoal, so they are black and white, very sketchy looking. One is amazing, it is of the two sisters and their brother walking along the edge of a dock, all of them balancing with their arms out. The image is perfectly in time with the text.

This would be a good holiday gift to a child (no younger than 3rd grade I'd say, probably 5th)--as it does have some war time issues in it (WW2) I can see this as a Hallmark Holiday movie if they were so inclined, it has that sort of mood to it.

Two sisters from a French seaside town find a drifting soldier during World War I. Marcelle and Coco are fascinated with the blind Englishman and his good luck charm, a little silver donkey. Lieutenant Shepard has wonderful stories to tell about heroic donkeys, and the girls hang on every tale. Soon, their brother finds out, and he gets a friend to help plan the soldier's way home across the Channel.

Knowing that the adults can never learn of the soldier's presence, the children take care of "their" soldier until he can leave. In return, they learn about courage and loyalty--lessons that will stay with them for the rest of their lives.

Sonya Hartnett has woven a charming story in the tradition of classic children's literature. Using gentle language, she relates the soldier's experience in ways that will leave no doubt that war is horrible, without scarring her young readers. The children are portrayed with a very real sense of wonderment, curiosity, and innocent sense of right and wrong.

Reading THE SILVER DONKEY evokes a feeling reminiscent of THE SECRET GARDEN and other such children's stories from the early 1900s. As time passes, Hartnett is sure to be as recognized as Burnett.

Reviewed by Christina Wantz Fixemer
11/08/2006

This is a high end French phrase book built to last. Weatherproof, too. Convenient, smartly laid out, and enjoyable to use. The French is written to show you how to pronounce it as it is actually pronounced by the French. This is its' ultimate selling point. Great product.

This is an excellent tutorial to learn French. I highly recommend it for anyone who is studying/has studied French and wants to know how to *speak* French. It doesn't include grammar. This you will find elsewhere. SmartFrench, unlike other popular teaching methods, teaches how to listen to the spoken French just as it is used in real conversations. I found it to be a great confidence builder.

I like the color coding. It makes the sentences so easy to pronounce. I have had travel guides but they are generally too thick, with too many sentences and finally unusable. This one is just right.

That object is beautifull as much as it is helpful. I went to the smatfrench website to download the audio recordings of the whole book and I can polish my French phrases before my trip. The book is spiral bound so that when you are at the page of the situation you choose, like the hotel for example, the book stays flat and you can easily put it back in your shirt pocket. What I like also is that each sentence is recorded on a different track, so you can find it in a second. Very cool!

This must be the Bible to sociology students around the world - i don't know an A level student who's lived without it. Buy it!

Written by two top college lecturers from Preston, England, this is a seminal and thoroughly readable work. Covers all sociological topics, well laid out, easy to read, excellent index. Suitable for senior high school and all levels of college study. The book is also well suited for anyone with a passing interest in social science or the humanities.

Everyone who wants to get a little bit deeper knowledge about sociology will find this book very helpful. It's main virtue is perfect balance between simplicity of language used and complexity of sociology itself. It is obvious that it is writen for someone who is only starting to dig into social science - but don't underestimate it for this!

While going through the book in1986, I often wondered if a more comprehensive, lucid and well-researched book could ever be written on the subject. My conviction still remains strong after all these years. This book is quite different from the usual introductory books on sociology meant for college fresher, which come packaged with pictures, photographs, case studies, box items and rather oversized glossaries of terms. Here, the whole gamut of sociology is presented by placing relevant theories side by side, which are often in stark contrast with each other. For example, the liberal perspective which hopes that `the expansion of education will also reduce inequality in society,' is followed by a jarring Marxian argument that the educational system is a `gigantic myth-making machine which serves to legitimate inequality.' These contradictions and shifts in the theories provide adequate clarity to the reader, rendering unnecessary any further intervention by the author.

All the seminal contributions of pioneers like Durkheim, Weber, Redcliffe-Brown, Parsons, Merton and Marx, and modern perspectives of sociologists like Michael F.D.Young, Edmund Leach and R.D.Laing are explained in a succinct manner. Apart from the various sociological perspectives, vital areas like social stratification, power and politics, poverty, education, organisation, family, religion and women and society are discussed threadbare. The final two chapters namely, methodology ans sociological theories are, to my mind, the final words on the subjects. I strongly recommend this book to anybody who wants to make any headway into the subject of sociology.

To close on a personal note - I found the chapter on religion the most absorbing in this book. As the functionalists' perspective of Durkheim, Malinowski and Parsons is decimated by the sharp but convincing Marxian standpoint, the chapter reads like a thriller, that is dominated by courtroom arguments.

I have read litterally hundreds of books on WWII but this is one of the first on WW1. What a way to start. This book is really outstanding. I am about 3/4 of the way through and its still a great read and I have a hard time putting it down. The attention to detail is awesome, with the best part being the gripping natatives from the soldiers themselves. This book literally leaves the reader speachless at the horror of this battle. This book is amust-have for someone who wants to understand what WW1 was like for the average foot soldier in the trenches.

Many bloody battles have a moment, often commemorated in a painting, of a glorious death or act of defiance that makes the bloodletting and terror bearable, at least in retrospect. Napoleon leading his men across the bridge at Arcole, Armistead reaching for the Federal guns at Gettysburg, McAulliffe responding "Nuts" to the demand for surrender.

The Somme had more than its share of heroism, but nothing that makes a good painting or heartening story for schoolchildren. Instead the Somme is men venturing out from trenches to kill each other in a small, brown, inglorious landscape. My girlfriend calls the Hart's massive tome "the maggoty corpse book," and the great number of unburied bodies is a note running repeatedly in its many first hand accounts from soldiers of many lands.

Hart does tend to fault Rawlinson to what I thought was an excessive extent. Rawlinson's main fault seems to be not resigning rather than follow the direction of Douglas Haig. It should be noted that most generals leading their country's conscripts would have been sacked after the July 1 slaughter north of the Bapaume road, where numerous New Army battalions were mowed down for little lost to the Germans except ammunition. Haig was not. Haig retained the top command, set the tone, and the learning curve of the British Army after July 1st was an embarrasingly low and bumpy one. And Haig was still making the same mistakes of overambitious attacks in 1917.

Peter Hart has produced a number of books from the IWM "First Person Stories" which make a tremendous source for the historian seeking answers to "how could this have happened?" This new work, The Somme, along with Bloody April, are Hart's new works separate from long time co-author Nigel Steel.

The Somme is an outstanding, highly readable work which uses historical facts to tie together hundreds of first hand accounts of the battle. This book makes no attempt to put the unmitigated horror of the story into a larger historical framework of World War I. It tells the story of soldiers who endured the four month bloodbath of 1916 which produced little but to relieve pressure on the French at Verdun.

I highly recommend this work as an interesting and informative "read" that lets the reader draw his own conclusions about the waste of the "Pals Battalions".

For the British, Ypres and the Somme are the definitive battles of the Great War. In this retelling of the latter, Hart has set the standard by which the newest generation of Great War history will be measured. This is a magnificently researched and readable look at arguably the most deadly battle of that deadly war. Hart is curator of the Imperial War Museum's audio archive and he puts to good use his familiarity with that wonderful resource. The result is direct quotes from dozens of participating soldiers. These recorded histories are in large part new sources (at least for me as a reader of Great War history) as opposed to the letters, diaries, and official histories that usually make up the bibliograpy of works such as these. Add to this Hart's sharp writing style, insightful comments, and ease at making sense of chaotic and confusing battle scenes (something that unfortunately is too rare among WWI historians) and you have a book that is difficult to put down, no matter how much you already know about the Somme. The author also does not shrink from describing the horror of battle, and in fact devotes an entire chapter to the medical services (such as they were) at the Somme. He is critical more of Rawlinson and Gough than of Haig (although admiting that Sir Douglas was ultimately responsible for his army commanders' actions) and covers all the major actions of the battle in some detail. One is certainly reminded of Lyn McDonald's work when reading this, but Hart gives us more than McDonald did in her account of the Somme in that her focus on the stories of veterans left portions of the battle undiscussed. While McDonald's version remains a masterwork, Hart's will join it as a magnificent recounting of those 4 1/2 months in 1916.

This book provides descriptions of all the parks in the area it covers, with maps that show nearly all hiking trails and advice on when is the best time of year for each. I wish the equivalent books for other parts of the bay area were this complete.

For over a year this book has been my bible for selecting hikes in the south bay area. The authors' trail descriptions are vivid, and their routes are planned well. I have two major grievances: first, their loquacious style can make it hard to determine exactly what turns you're supposed to take and when. Secondly, finding a hike is too cumbersome: you go to page 18 to search the map for the park you want, then back to the table of contents to find the page number for the park, then forward to the actual content. The map should be in the very front or back of the book and should include page numbers. Despite those annoyances, I still bring this book with me every weekend, and can recommend it as a good guide.

This is a wonderful book that goes into great deatil about the many trails in and around the South Bay. It breaks down the area by specific parks and then suggested hikes, including mileage, elevation loss or gain, and time. It even has a neat little appendix outlining hikes by category (ie., short hikes, hikes to see spring flowers, etc.) The text is detailed, explaining what you will find around every bend, and the historical information on the parks is very interesting. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking to get out and away from the hustle and bustle of Silicon Valley.

I just replaced my battered copy of the first edition with the latest, third one, and it's a real winner! These authors' books are always educational, interesting and complete. And best of all they lead one into many fine hiking adventures around the bay. I've spent many a fine summer day following their instructions. It's about time they put out a new edition, because of all the new parks and trails they had to cover. Recommended!

I know this is bizarre, but this book is one of my all-time favourites. Spanish was more or less an exotic language in my native Bosnia, so it was a tremendous adventure for me when I started learning it. I am now able to read 10 languages, but I never experienced such excitement and easiness again while learning a language, not even with other Assimil books. After about a year, I became fluent in Spanish, without having had any contact to native speakers, and it is still the language I probably cherish more than any other. Oh yes, the tapes are in a funny Spanish accent which cracked my Chilean teacher up when I started taking classes with her, but that is not a serious drawback. Enjoy!

I already took the course, French with ease. It was so easy to understand. I was going to a Spanish school to learn spanish as well. The book Spanish with ease, made me drop out of the class to expidite the learning process with this book and tapes.

What do you call someone who speaks three languages? "Trilingual." What do you call someone who speaks two languages? "Bilingual." What do you call someone who speaks one language? "An American."

Years of grade school Spanish and some college French did little to make me any less the butt of this quip. But thanks to a tip from a language-loving friend, I now can aspire at least to being 1.5lingual. Assimil publishes book/tape (or CD) language packages for dozens of languages, including French, German, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, and Arabic ("Arabic with Ease?!") -- all with the title [Language] with Ease. I worked through the Spanish with Ease book/tape set, and have dabbled with the French with Ease and Italian with Ease set. All are well thought-out and inviting, without descending into the simplistic phrase-book pap that characterizes many language learning tools. The Assimil method is conversational, but they aren't afraid to teach you grammar along the way. The lessons introduce idioms early on, the later lessons have you reading real poems, and there's a pretty good grammatical appendix of verbs. An added bonus is that the books, though compact and lightweight, have a sewn binding and a sturdy cover -- unlike most modern paperbacks, they should hold up to repeated use and the rigors of the rucksack.

My only gripe about the books is that they aren't edited with sufficient care, which results in some formatting errors and a few wrongly spelled words. I didn't find it difficult to catch the errors, but these otherwise excellent books deserve more thorough editing.

(Note to travelers: The speakers on the Spanish with Ease tapes use a Castillian accent of the sort you'll encounter in most of Spain, but not in Latin America. Your Latin-American-Spanish-speaking friends may find the accent either amusing, quaint, annoying, or unintelligible.)

Assimil programs are based on effortless assimilation of the language material. I believe that Assimil programs are most popular language learning programs in Europe.

From the very beginning you are immersed in the language - the program has about 100 lessons, and each seventh lesson is dedicated to review and additional grammatical notes.

Each lesson contains short dialogues and is accompanied by any notes and grammatical explations, which are also reviewed later on. Throughout the book are interspersed cartoons and jokes making learning of Spanish even more enjoyable and fun.

Note: The tapes and CDs that accompany the book are spoken with Castillan pronounciation (Spanish spoken in Spain), and not Latino American.

Assimil programs are based on effortless assimilation of the language material. I believe that Assimil programs are most popular language learning programs in Europe.

From the very beginning you are immersed in the language - the program has 109 lessons on 478 pages and 4 CDs with approximately 3 and half hours of audio entirely in Spanish.

Each lesson contains short dialogues and is accompanied by any notes and grammatical explations, which are also reviewed later on. Throughout the book are interspersed cartoons and jokes making learning of Spanish even more enjoyable and fun.

Note: The tapes / CDs that accompany the book are spoken with Castillan pronounciation - Spanish spoken in Spain - not in Latin American.

Once you're done with this book, you can continue onto the next volume - "Using Spanish".

Assimil programs are based on effortless assimilation of the language material. I believe that Assimil programs are most popular language learning programs in Europe.

From the very beginning you are immersed in the language - the program has 109 lessons on 478 pages and 4 CDs with approximately 3 and half hours of audio entirely in Spanish.

Each lesson contains short dialogues and is accompanied by any notes and grammatical explations, which are also reviewed later on. Throughout the book are interspersed cartoons and jokes making learning of Spanish even more enjoyable and fun.

Note: The tapes / CDs that accompany the book are spoken with Castillan pronounciation - Spanish spoken in Spain - not in Latin American.

Once you're done with this book, you can continue onto the next volume - "Using Spanish".

I like the program. It really throws you into the deep end of the pool. I just think it throws too much at you at the beggining which may discourage the novice. I reccomend Michel Thomas Spanish Deluxe for the complete beginner. After doing Michel Thomas Advance going to Assimil is probably a good next step.

I don't think you really can learn a foreign language on your own. But as far as these self-studying tools are concerned, Assimil's Spanish with Ease shows that they have put in the thought and effort to design the courses. It is well worth the extra money (compared to other self-taught Spanish books.)

Let me first tell you what this is not. It's not a phrase book for tourists and is not a comprehensive Spanish grammar course, and it doesn't give you a free dictionary. And you need to sit down and read the book to learn (I simply don't buy the "All-Audio" model by Living Learning.) But if you are serious about learning Spanish on your own (i.e. actually going through all the lessons), Assimil is a very effective tool.

For example, the book is printed in Spanish on odd-numbered pages and corresponding English on even-numbered pages so that people could refrain from "cheating" by looking up the English. The lessons are mostly interesting dialogues that could arise in daily life. It provides informative footnotes that explain idiomatic usages. It gives a pretty detailed grammatical appendix (including some irregular verbs) and variations of regional usages in a dozen Spanish-speaking countries. It also have very fun cartoons to go with the lessons. The accented syllables are boldfaced.