Mo, I really enjoyed "The Apple Branch" having just recently read it. I had already become partially fluent and am still learning from another speaker in the Gaeilge in order to be able to relate to Celtic culture and to read works in Gaelige and think on the same level. So I tend agree that one needs to embrace the language in order to understand Celtic culture and spirituality to its full extent. I particulary enjoyed his letter to the editor in Keltria. In "The Apple Branch" Kondratiev opens up knowledge about pre-Christian Celtic and the Christian Celtic from a historical and scholarly perspective. For those interested in Celtic culture and spirituality it is hard to find information that is written on the scholarly level and knowledgeable in all aspects of Celtic language, history, and religion as is Alexei Kondratiev's "The Apple Branch." A book similar but on a more secular level is Marcus Tanner's "The Last of the Celts" it is worth a read too!