One cannot learn to dance reading ANY book.
Agreed, but I didn't intend to suggest otherwise. What I meant was that the material within the covers of the book would not provide a sound foundation of knowledge in this dance, not that it was a teach-yourself-to-tango text that had failed to deliver on its promise.
The key point of my earlier post was that ...
tango is learnt in the embrace of a partner, dancing tango.
And I stand by it. Teachers have a role, and can help students to discover the dance more quickly, usually by correcting errors of posture, but in the Golden Age, there were no teachers, but an incredibly high standard of dancing from a very wide cross section of the adult population. Young men learned their craft by putting in the hours at the nightly practica, and usually danced as follower for a couple of years, before trying to lead. We teachers like to think that we are indispensible, but it is not so for tango.
And I know that this is s different issue, but actually there are circumstances where you can learn from the texts, but only having already learned to dance. Any teacher (alright, not any, because they might choose another path) who has already achieved membership of a teaching society by rigorous examination is likely to continue their study of the technique of more advanced figures largely on a self-directed basis. They have the foundation of basic technique, because the syllabus was carefully chosen, and they can happily carry on, applying their knowledge, which rather less input from their coach or mentor than previously.
