I remember someone has said that the technique books published by the ISTD are not text books to learn ballroom or Latin dances. Can anyone suggest a better textbook?

Have a nice time!

________
Skipper

The ISTD technique books are really intended more as references for teachers in training, and in the workplace, so they can make sure they are serving up kosher technique.

That said, once you learn their language, you can as a student read them, refer to them, and get quite a bit of benefit this way.

There are other books which say more, including one by Arthur Moore who wrote the original version of what became the ISTD book. The thing is that the more a book says, the more controversy it generates and the more misunderstanding it gets blamed for.

Basically, you can't learn dancing from a book. With good in person trianing, you can reinforce, extend, and maintain you knowledge in part through the aid of the books - but they are not a solution by themselves.

Just to clarify, Arthur more wrote two books for the standard dances, plus who knows what on latin.

The "terse" book became the ISTD technique book

The "wordy" book is still available as something like the art of ballroom dancing. It includes an outdated and thus unofficial set of the step tables similar to the technique book of a corresponding past era, plus an appendix with hokey ideas about how to liven up a party!