Carpe Diem Audiobook By Harry Mount cover art

Carpe Diem

Put a Little Latin in Your Life

 Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 months free
Try for $0.00
Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime.

Carpe Diem

By: Harry Mount
Narrated by: Stephen Hoye
Try for $0.00

$0.00/mo. after 3 months. Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $13.75

Buy for $13.75

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use, License, and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel
In this lighthearted guided tour of Latin, journalist and former Latin tutor Harry Mount breathes life back into the greatest language of all, drawing on everything from a Monty Python grammar lesson to Angelina Jolie's tattoos. Filled with fascinating tidbits and humorous asides, Carpe Diem will delight the word lovers who made Eats, Shoots and Leaves such a monster hit.

Whether we're aware of it or not, Latin is all around us. Consider the sayings in everyday use: alter ego, ad nauseam, caveat emptor, modus operandi, per se, and, of course, the ever-popular e pluribus unum. Even more abundant are words derived from Latin roots: arena (from harena, meaning "sand"), auditorium ("a place of audience"), stadium (a running track)...and those are just the theatrical ones!

It's inescapable. It's also the most daunting of languages, one that is seemingly obscure and filled with arcane rules and often accompanied by unpleasant memories of adolescence. But, as Mount says in Carpe Diem, "Knowing a bit of Latin is an invitation to the biggest room in the building, with a view down the corridor to all the succeeding ages. And you can get your hands on that invitation at any age."

©2007 Harry Mount (P)2007 Tantor Media Inc. Communication & Social Skills Language Learning Latin Personal Development Witty Learn Latin

Critic reviews

"I can't remember the last time I conjugated with such an expert." (Lynne Truss, author of Eats, Shoots, and Leaves)
All stars
Most relevant  
This is a grand book which is engaging and fun to listen to. Although the author claims otherwise, it does require some exposure to Latin beforehand to really follow it, however. But anyhow, it does manage to get those old Latin chants up and running again.

Wow: a language book that is written by a human

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
It would have been great to have Harry Mount as a Latin teacher. I actually had a wonderful Latin teacher which is probably why I still enjoy it today. Harry brings al lot of American and British cultural references in examples that illustrate Latin sentences. A fun primer tat is a good refresher or great place to start learning Latin. I especially liked the common phrases at the end.

Brings Latin to life

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Qite an entertaing read. I would reccomend as a book to stoke interest in a young reader who is compelled to learn about latin.

Interesting to begin with and overall entertaining

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This is not so much a Latin primer as an introduction to Latin literary culture. It's accessible for a popular audience but also provides avenues for further studies and forays into the world of Latin/Roman letters.

Well-written, informative intro to Latin literary culture

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

What disappointed you about Carpe Diem?

I really disliked this book. I think the premise is good - but the off handed stories that use latin but don't explain it... are frustrating. Truthfully - I hated it after the first chapter. I kept listening hoping it would get better - but it didn't.

What character would you cut from Carpe Diem?

No Charecters - just inane stories.

Terrible

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.