You can read KATÓ LOMB’s book tilted “POLYGLOT: How I Learn Languages” on the following site.
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Thanks for the link Tora-san, I just read a few chapters of the book. What an interesting and inspiring woman! It seems the secret to successful language learning is the same as success in anything else: dedication, diligence and, most of all, passion!
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“Dr. Kató Lomb (1909–2003) has been called ‘possibly the most accomplished polyglot in the world’ (Krashen, 1997, p. 15) and ‘the most multilingual woman’ (Parkvall, 2006, p. 119). Unlike most polyglots, Lomb came to language learning relatively late.” http://bit.ly/fTq15W
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Since I read her book earlier this year, I am even more determined in pursuing my goal to learn all the European languages! I love that book and I always recommend it to the language-loving people I talk to. Pity that she’s dead! 
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She responds to the following three questions in “Foreword to the First Edition.”
- Is it possible to know 16 languages?
- Why haven’t you chosen a career in foreign language teaching?
- Does one need an aptitude to learn so many languages?
ロンブ・カトー「私の外国語学習法」ちくま学芸文庫 米原万里訳
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教えてくれてありがとうございます。私は数年前英語版を読みました。とても面白かったので日本語版も読もうと思います。
“Speaking skill is developed most by reading today’s plays and colorful modern short stories and novels that have a good pace. ‘Situational elements,’ as they call them, are built into the background of the story so they steal into your memory along with the background. This will be the context with which they will emerge when you get into the same situation as described.” p.80
"Books have descriptive parts. In these, writers quote themselves and since they are good stylists by profession, they roll out nice, regularly formed sentences in front of you. " p.81
“It will turn out that André Maurois speaks better French than you, Vera Panova better Russian, and Taylor Caldwell better English. In this fight, you cannot prevail but you can win. Your knowledge develops and becomes consolidated. By the way, I didn’t mention these three specific authors by chance. Their fluent, natural style makes them very suitable for warming up.” p. 87
I wonder who is Taylor Caldwell. I began reading Erskine Caldwell’s TABACCO ROAD.
Peter Taylor http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/2631/the-art-of-fiction-no-99-peter-taylor
Erskine Caldwell http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/arts-culture/erskine-caldwell-1903-1987
Tobacco Road and God’s Little Acre http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/arts-culture/tobacco-road-and-gods-little-acre