Seldom have I felt so much second-hand embarrassment reading anything. Truss' pedantry is only matched by her ignorance of the language she purports to protect. This is just a sad, elitist, and pretentious book tailor-made for people who have nothing better to do than to feel better than others by uncritically adhering to trivial and largely arbitrary rules of style. It is full of opinions that betray a worrying lack of empathy toward the ordinary Briton and a lot of the author's "witticisms" sound either lame or deranged. I have quite literally thrown this one in the trash and I really hope no soul picks it up on its way to the incinerator. ( )

SUPER FUNNY, and also, I learnt stuff like how the commas are super important and if you move them around, they might create new biblical interpretations: For example

“verily, I say unto thee, This day thou shalt be with me in Paradise.”
vs
“Verily I say unto thee this day, Thou shalt be with me in Paradise.” (P74, Truss)

The former the comma after “thee” is the Protestant interpretation of the Bible which skips over the concept of Purgatory, while the second with the comma after “they” means to Catholics that Paradise is promised sometime later, after Purgatory. The placement of the comma changes the meaning of the religious text. The more you know! ( )

An absolute delight of a book.

Lynne has managed to take a rather dull and tedious subject - that of punctuation - and made it interesting and fun to learn.

Yes, it can come across as nothing but a curmudgeon having a rant, but it's an intelligent curmudgeon having an amusing rant that is very educational.

We are now in an age where the written word is being used more than any other time in history to communicate; most people barely talk any more, preferring to text, or email, rather than pick up the phone or visit in person.   At no other time in history has the correct meaning and interpretation of the written word been more important, while punctuation, which gives the meaning and interpretation to the written word, is so utterly neglected and misunderstood.

Yes, punctuation is important, and while some of it is art, a lot of it is not:

... is there any art involved in using the apostrophe?   No.   Using the apostrophe correctly is a mere negative proof: it tells the world you are not a thicko.

Whether or not you think your punctuation could use a little housekeeping, this is a fun and interesting book to read and you will learn a few things while reading it: well worth it! ( )

Very interesting look at the history and correct use of punctuation. Written in an easy-going, engaging style, this book is both amusing and informative. ( )

http://pro-libertate.net/20110131/151-read-eats-shoots-and-leaves ( )