Spanish I (Cliffs Quick Review)

Rating:
Summary: A very pleasant surprise
Review: I own a variety of books for learning Spanish, ranging from phrase-books (I know, what a joke), to classroom textbooks. I only discovered this particular little gem a couple of months ago.

This author excels at several things:

1) saying the most with the fewest words (I always like to cut to the chase)
2) using just the right number of well-selected examples in all the right places
3) answering your questions just when you are about to ask them
4) thoroughness

and perhaps most important of all

5) fantastic pacing, it never drags, and yet never outruns you.

There are many experts in the Spanish language, obviously, but it is truly a joy to find one who is also an expert teacher and writer.

If you had been previously exposed to the Spanish language in any way, either via phrasebooks or a mostly-forgotten class 15 years ago, get this book. It sets everything straight permanently in one single reading.

Rating:
Summary: A very pleasant surprise
Review: I own a variety of books for learning Spanish, ranging from phrase-books (I know, what a joke), to classroom textbooks. I only discovered this particular little gem a couple of months ago.

This author excels at several things:

1) saying the most with the fewest words (I always like to cut to the chase)
2) using just the right number of well-selected examples in all the right places
3) answering your questions just when you are about to ask them
4) thoroughness

and perhaps most important of all

5) fantastic pacing, it never drags, and yet never outruns you.

There are many experts in the Spanish language, obviously, but it is truly a joy to find one who is also an expert teacher and writer.

If you had been previously exposed to the Spanish language in any way, either via phrasebooks or a mostly-forgotten class 15 years ago, get this book. It sets everything straight permanently in one single reading.

Rating:
Summary: A completely underrated gem...
Review: I wholeheartedly agree with Chuan N. Lee "half". Who knew that
cliff notes 1 & 2 for Spanish could possibly be so excellent? I mean, cliff notes - they're for the losers who couldn't even be bothered to actually read the book, right?

But I picked these up because I'd just started Spanish and they were going cheap at Walmart's. To my surprise, books 1 & 2 together pretty much comprise a complete course in
Spanish, but pared right down to the essentials, which is what I need because I'm in my forties now so I don't have time to waste.

I liked it so much I gave copies to my SO, who is also an engineer, also learning Spanish, and also in a hurry. He finally overcame his prejudice of cliff's notes long enough to actually look at them, and now is as hooked on them as I am.

If you're serious about learning Spanish and are type-A like us, with no time for the fluff and hand-holding you get from "Learn Spanish in 25 years in Your Car whilst becoming a Hazard to Navigation" then this, along with the dictionaries at yahoo.com and wordreference.com, is the way to go.