Why are so many people buying a primer on Latin? It tickles me that the answer to this boils down to "zeitgeist". 

Mehercule! As you almost certainly wouldn't exclaim. It's true: there are people out there masochistic enough to put themselves through the passive periphrastic and hic, haec, hoc

A clue to a reason for the success of Amo, Amas, Amat is also provided by Amazon, which has nominated as the volume's "perfect partner" Beyond Words, John Humphrys' cross book about the use of English in today's degenerate world. In other words, Amo, Amas, Amat is, broadly, part of the Eats, Shoots and Leaves phenomenon and thus falls into the category of books that are ostensibly cris de coeur for the correct use of the apostrophe, say, while really, deep down, betraying a sort of posh anxiety about standards in society generally.

Alternate headlines: "Dead tongue takes licking, keeps on sic-ing", "Dead language speaks to people", "Es-yay to the Atin-lay", "The root of apathy can be found in Latin", "Yaaaaawwwnnnn".