Delightful, funny and very interesting. Alexander is an obsessive sort of personality which he has luckily (for us and him) turned into a livelihood. (See his other books!) He is also a very good writer, delicately balancing angst, humor and fascinating facts about the French language. ( )

I bought this book at Shakespeare & Company in Paris, and read it throughout my visit there. The book is delightful. (The trip was too.) And while, for me the visit and the read were completely entwined, I have no doubt that the book would have been just as delightful if I was visiting, say... Milwaukee. ( )

While I was expecting a feel good story about a new experience, what I read was a realistic and entertaining book about the issues and experiences of learning a language as an adult. The learning and language theory interspersed with the variety of tactics Alexander used to try to attain his goal made an interesting read. ( )

No, he doesn't become fluent in French (after about 900 hours of study, including everything from Rosetta Stone to an immersion class in France), but his cognitive test scores skyrocket, leading him to assert that language study is a kind of fountain of youth for the brain. A really good read, funny and engaging, discouraging and positive. ( )

This is a book that I wouldn't normally pick up it's not in my genre of books I normally read so I was pleasantly surprised to really enjoy this book. While I've been wanting to learn another language it gave me the courage to believe that no matter what I'll be able to eventually learn and if that takes a random trip to that country and immerse myself...then that is what that means! ( )