Carpe Diem by Harry Mount

Carpe Diem by Harry Mount

In this lighthearted guided tour of Latin, journalist and former Latin tutor Harry Mount breathes life back into the greatest language of all, drawing on everything from a Monty Python grammar lesson to Angelina Jolie's tattoos. Filled with fascinating tidbits and humorous asides, Carpe Diem will delight the word lovers who made Eats, Shoots and Leaves such a monster hit. Whether we're aware of it or not, Latin is all around us. Consider the sayings in everyday use: alter ego, ad nauseam, caveat emptor, modus operandi, per se, and, of course, the ever-popular e pluribus unum. Even more abundant are words derived from Latin roots: arena (from harena, meaning sand), auditorium (a place of audience), stadium (a running track).and those are just the theatrical ones It's inescapable. It's also the most daunting of languages, one that is seemingly obscure and filled with arcane rules and often accompanied by unpleasant memories of adolescence. But, as Mount says in Carpe Diem, Knowing a bit of Latin is an invitation to the biggest room in the building, with a view down the corridor to all the succeeding ages. And you can get your hands on that invitation at any age.

Mount, Harry: - Harry Mount studied ancient and modern history and classics at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he gained a First. He has written a number of books including Amo, Amas, Amat and All That (Short Books), A Lust for Windowsills (Little Brown) and How England Made the English (Viking). He is a former New York correspondent for The Daily Telegraph and now writes regularly for the Spectator, The Daily Telegraph and The Daily Mail.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781401322342
ISBN 10	1401322344
Title	Carpe Diem
Author	Harry Mount
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Hyperion
Year published	2007-11-06
Number of pages	259
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.