[.ca] Latin Made Simple: A complete introductory course with ... (ISBN 0385413394)

Latin Made Simple, Student Made Confused:
This being my first Latin text, I cannot vouch for its correctness in Latin context--although it seems by the other reviews that this book has some consistent shortcomings in that area. However, as a student of other foreign languages(Spanish, French, and Japanese previously), I can decidedly say that the presentation in this book is confusing at best. The beginning chapters are filled with "this is one way to do it" explanations that are later contradicted with the correct (?) method. Teaching someone how to do something incorrectly for the mere purpose of simplification is an absolutely useless practice which should be stopped immediately. I would NOT recommend using this book as a learning aid without a Latin-fluent companion to help "fix" the book.

Liber calamitas est:
I originally taught myself to read Latin using Gavin Betts' "Teach Yourself Latin," but no longer had the book and bought "Latin Made Simple" in order to brush up on what I had semi-forgotten. As the other reviews indicate, this book has serious flaws. If I hadn't already had a working, albeit rusty, knowledge of the language, I wouldn't have been able to pick out the many typos and incorrect grammar explanations. I stopped reading the book at Chapter 3, after I realised that the author gave the incorrect future tense for the verb "to go" (the second and third person singular given as the future tense are, in fact, in the imperfect tense). Nevertheless, the book does have some redeeming features. If you have already bought the book, don't throw it out; just go back to it when you have learned proper Latin and will be able to tell what is correct from what isn't. If you haven't bought the book, I can only say, "caveat emptor." I wound up purchasing the latest edition of Gavin Betts' "Teach Yourself Latin," which now has the added advantage of a web site with additional exercises and readings for each chapter, along with the answers. I don't think you can go wrong with Betts' book, and it's less intimidating than "Wheelock's Latin" (another excellent book) for the self-taught (it's also a lot lighter weight to carry around - you could use Wheelock's for self-defense, it's so heavy).

Errare humanum est, but this is ridiculous:
I think the other reviewers have adequately summarized many of the shortcomings of this book. Of the many things I could add, I will simply say that the book offers seven guidelines for the pronunciation of Church Latin: two are wrong, one is at best misleading, one is too vague to evaluate, and one manages to combine all three of these problems; of course, that leaves two that are correct. But you will probably want to spend your money on something with a higher batting average. Wheelock's is better in essentially every way; if your particular interest is Church Latin, Collins's "A Primer of Ecclesiastiacal Latin" is an excellent choice.

Don't start with this text:
I learned Latin first using Wheelock, one of the standard texts available today for Latin instruction; I have used other grammars, readers and texts since then, and seem to pick up another volume every other year or so, just to keep up the practice, and to see what else is available. I purchased 'Latin Made Simple' by Hendricks some time prior to my Latin instruction using Wheelock, but had not used it; it sat on the shelf waiting to be read, but I must confess, I hadn't got round to it prior to my classes in Latin. When I picked it up off the shelf to use it to help refresh my Latin several years later, I found it a mixed bag. I liked the fact that it addressed topics such as Church Latin (Wheelock is primarily for classical -- Republic or Imperial - Latin), and found many of the examples more relevant to my needs as a churchy person. I also liked some of the page layouts for verb conjugations and noun declensions, and some other grammar points. However, there are many typographical errors here, and several problems I noticed even with my then-rusty Latin. Some of the verb conjugations did not match with the guide to Latin Verbs I used as a companion. Checking against Wheelock and Henle, I found that Hendrick's text was indeed incorrect. While this is probably more of an editorial problem than an author's shortcoming, it still reflects badly on the text (as the student won't in general care if the problem comes from the editor or the author, but rather takes what is on the page). Since this is a book designed primarily for those who have not had any Latin training, identifying the errors is not really possible for most readers (this is a bad thing). Also, since this is a book designed for the absolute beginner, many of the issues are presented in the most simple format possible -- the problem here is that Latin is a very complex language, and there are many exceptions to almost every rule -- the presentation here doesn't really prepare the student for the variations, leading to a bit of confusion. I found this book useful as a review, but could not really recommend it as a beginning text.

Auctor stultus est.:
Errata multa in libro sunt. Miserabile dictu, mihi necesse est reprobare librum istum. There are many errors in the book. Sad to say, I must repudiate the book.