This book fails in a blaze of glory
The Loom of Language is my number one desert island book and I can imagine myself hoping for a shipwreck while I read it! So, what is this book? A broadly complete (to 1970 +/-) story of major European languages; some of the most precise and useful descriptions of their grammar that I've seen and, best of all, list after glorious list of working vocabulary in Swedish, Danish, Dutch, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian. It is an epic success on an intellectual and even educational level. Yet, I'm afraid that Bodmer and Hogben would have felt themselves failures. Their methods (although sound) are hopelessly out of step with modern language instruction theories and the Loom will never reach the multitudes it was intended for. Perhaps it will only be appreciated by the hobbyists and the language-mad such as myself. If you are one of the above, this book cannot disappoint you.
