[.ca] Eats, Shoots and Leaves (ISBN 1592402038)

She shoots and leaves us laughing!:
I really enjoyed this book very much: it had me laughing out loud! It's full of very funny illustrations of errors in punctuation and the havoc those errors can create (as you'd expect), but it also sets the record straight about instances where grammar is a matter of personal preference or style. I would buy this book for anyone who is a teacher or student. No matter what someone is teaching or studying, almost all teachers and students have to write: this book will be an invaluable guide to writing with clarity and style!

You can't help cheering it on, because it has done such a good job in its humble way:
How does a book about how to use commas and colons properly have lodged itself at No 1 on bestseller lists? Maybe Lynne Truss' books success shows that it is not just a few reactionaries who care. Truss agrees it's selling off the internet and stickler-types probably don't do their shopping on the internet. Lynne Truss wonders if there might be readers whose higher education has given them at least a guilty conscience about what they have not been taught, suddenly thinking that perhaps it does matter and I wouldn't mind knowing this stuff. Those copies stacked in Waterstone's might show that there are plenty of people who want to be, as Lynne Truss puts it, 'virtuous'. While Truss says that 'despair' gave this book its impetus, she does not sound despairing either in print or in person. The title itself is a joke, about an irate panda who walks into a cafe, orders a sandwich, eats it, draws a gun and fires two shots into the air. The waiter finds the explanation for this erratic behavior in a badly punctuated wildlife manual which the bear leaves behind: Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves. Eats, Shoots & Leaves: Why, Commas Really Do Make a Difference! tells you the rules, but is also full of jokes and anecdotes. It is a sort of celebration of punctuation. You can't help cheering it on, because it has done such a good job in its humble way. She speaks of the delights of the semi-colon with relish. She has listened to the man from the Apostrophe Protection Society (yes, it exists) but does not sound like a member of any such group. "I was so worried when I wrote the book that people would assume that anyone interested in this subject would be small-minded". --Lynne Truss. I don't really know where punctuation is going. But this is a very good moment to look at it and see what state it's in. The internet and emails have come along very conveniently for people who didn't learn punctuation and can therefore get by. Punctuation helps give rhythm and a tone of voice to writing, and Truss thinks it no accident that readers of emails often find it difficult to pick up the tone of the person who's written it, with all those dashes. The grace notes get lopped off and it becomes very bald. So people start needing exclamation marks and capital letters, desperately trying to express a tone of voice.

Lynne Truss Has Got A Little List:
As someday it may happen that a victim must be found, She's got a little list -- she's got a little list Of illiterate offenders who might well be underground, And who never would be missed -- who never would be missed! There's the greengrocer's redundant and reviled apostrophe Granting unapproved possession of the carrot and the pea -- All the dangling expectations when the commas aren't in pairs -- All the chaos that's created in semantical affairs -- All editors eliminating semis from your list -- They'd none of 'em be missed -- they'd none of 'em be missed! She's got 'em on the list -- she's got 'em on the list; And they'll none of 'em be missed -- they'll none of 'em be missed. There's the muzzy-headed journalist whose phrases roam like sheep, Who thinks that commas don't exist -- she's got him on her list! And the pedants whose subordinated clauses bring on sleep, They never would be missed -- they never would be missed! There's the manuscript that always gives infuriating pause By the wrongful punctuation of the inoffensive clause, And ambiguous intentions when a colon should be placed But the author for some reason holds that mark in great distaste, And the cavalier exclaimer who from screaming can't desist -- I don't think he'd be missed -- I'm sure he'd not be missed! She's got him on the list -- she's got him on the list; And I don't think he'd be missed -- I'm sure he'll not be missed! And the sentences that ought to end but will not mind the stop So the readers lose the gist -- she's got 'em on the list! And the badly punctuated placard shilling for a shop, They'd none of 'em be missed -- they'd none of 'em be missed. And the foes of readability with dashes everywhere, They inch along in fits and starts, they make you want to swear, The intolerant authorities whose standards are not yours, Those moral weaklings oozing indecision from their pores, It's a stickler's job to see they all are placed upon the list, For they'd none of 'em be missed -- they'd none of 'em be missed! In homage to THE MIKADO; libretto by W.S. Gilbert and music by Arthur Sullivan. Linda Bulger, 2008

Most of these reviewers NEED this book!:
There's no need to look further than the reviews written here for this very book to find proof of how desperately it is needed. Full of punctuation and, especially, grammatical errors, these reviews aptly illustrate how even people who THINK they use English correctly very often don't. At least read over your review before posting. If you've done that and believe it ready for posting, re-read the book. You still have a lot to learn. :(

Glad to get it over with:
I was told to read this book by someone at work. I am blind so I managed to find an audio book on the CNIB library's web site and downloaded a copy. I thought the book would really make me laugh. It didn't. It put me to sleep most of the time, but I stuck with it because this person at work really wanted me to read it. It goes on about lots of boring stuff. Every chapter doesn't get to the point and it's very boring. It only has a few pages that are really worth reading and there are lots of quotes from old authors who I have no interest in anyway. I do not recommend this book at all.