Each of the 19 sections of this book covers a different tongue, extinct or existing. Usually about 10 pages are spent per language. There are plenty of maps, for use in placing the exact distribution of whatever language you are reading about. Also, there are decent bibliographies at the end of each article, providing a range of from about 3 to about 20 reference sources you could go to for further research. This is why I gave this work five stars -- I don't think the editor was aiming to provide an absolutely comprehensive overview of all these languages, as, of course, would be impossible. He tells us enough to whet our appetite, and to provoke a certain amount of wonder, and then he tells us where we could go to read more, if we want... For me, the most interesting parts of this book are the little articles Glanville Price included about Flemish surviving as a spoken tongue in some parts of Wales, due to some Flemish knights settling there in the Middle Ages, and the articles about lesser-known Celtic tongues which survived almost to the present... As it says in the blurb Amazon.com provides, the primary focii of these articles are historical, diachronic, and sociolinguistic. I bought this book, and I'm pleased that I did. I recommend it to anyone.

While trying to learn French in Montreal recently, I realized that while "Introductory French Lesson" type books were a good place to start, they were not really sufficient. I always had questions which the introductory books didn't answer: Why can I say "Quelle est cette rue?" (what is this street?), but not "Quelle est cette?" (What is this? Bad French grammar, of course, although an English speaker doesn't immediately know why :). What are all the different rules for questions, for negation? What, exactly, is the difference between "pendant" and "depuis"? All that and much more is here, well organized, in more detail than you could ever want. If you have a question about French grammar, this book answers it in exhaustive detail. That is the only flaw - it is so complete that the intermediate student feels a little overwhelmed at times.

If you are one of those people who is uncomfortable just "winging it", and needs a *correct* explanation, in English, of how French really is and how things really work, then look no further.

Of course, a book like this is only a part of the puzzle, but an important part.