Richard Watson, scholar, agent provocataire, and spelunker extra-ordinaire is back. Having told us how to win the fight against fat in The Philosopher's Diet, and having painted the definitive portrait of philosopher René Descartes (Cogito, Ergo Sum), he here confides how he confronted his most difficult challenge: learning to speak French. Already an accomplished reader of French, Watson found himself forced to learn to speak the language when he was invited to present a paper in Paris -- in French. A private crash course and lessons at the Alliance Française only served to point out how difficult it can be to learn any foreign language, especially later in life. As he confronts his own national prejudices, Watson weaves in digressions on the contrasts between France and America, on the mysteries of French engineering, and on eccentric French cavers. This wry, witty book is not just for anyone who has ever tried to learn another language, but for anyone who has yearned desperately to learn anything of supreme difficulty and has worked to their limits to achieve it.

"Originally published by the University of Missouri Press in 1995"--Title page verso.