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Summary: A Must-Read for Punctuation Sticklers
Review: I never thought I would laugh out loud reading a book about grammar and punctuation, but Lynne Truss has caused me to do just that! As a self-confessed "stickler," I had been looking forward to the publication of this book in the United States, and was not disappointed. For anyone who is dismayed at the lack of proper grammar and punctuation in all areas of writing today, this book is a must-read. For people who don't really know any better (as is obvious from their reviews on Amazon.com,) this book is a waste of time and a bore. I am buying this book for friends and loved ones in order to share the message!
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Summary: Eats, Shoots and Leaves
Review: This was just ok...parts of it was amusing, others I couldn't relate too.
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Summary: Witty - a definite must have book
Review: This book is a very fun and quick read. It briefs you on the major punctuation rules, and spends the rest of the time telling you funny antedotes. If you're serious about learning punctuation, there are better textbooks out there. But I doubt any of those textbooks would be half as fun to read as "Eats, Shoots & Leaves." While this book is fun in that it takes a gimmick (in this case, bad punctuation) and runs with it, what elevates it from other one-joke books is the author's genuine love for the English language and her earnest plea for people to give it more respect.Another book that I recommend is "Good Grief", and He Never Called Again."
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Summary: View from the classroom
Review: As a secondary school teacher for longer than I care to admit, I am delighted to see that a subject as staid as grammar can excite even adults. Kudos to this book for demonstrating that fact. But what a shame that the book has so little bearing on the way we use English in America - and has grammatical errors as well. Read this only for entertainment, but use authoritative sources if you intend to write or speak as Americans do.
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Summary: Small, Brilliant, Quirky Look At Language
Review: This is neither a reference book nor a prescriptive guide for writing or editing, so I'm not sure what all the fuss is about. Rather, it is one woman's personal, eccentric overview of what she sees as the sins of lazy and ill-informed modern grammar, a theme she explores with a bristling and ascerbic intelligence. Well worth the money just for the overdue debate she has started about the written language. In humorous nonfiction, I am a huge fan of "I Sleep At Red Lights: A True Story of Life After Triplets," by Bruce Stockler, a wry, amusing and deceptively smart story about how you find happiness when your life is turned upside down.
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Summary: Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctu
Review: Who in the right mind could have ever imagined that a book about punctuation would be more then a very marginal read. However in this case, i.e., Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynne Truss is an exception to this rule. The writing is witty, funny and surpsringly well written.
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Summary: Glad I borrowed it instead of bought it.
Review: The author is caught in the ugly spot of not really knowing her audience well. As plenty of other posters have noted, this is a book on grammar, marketed to American readers, but set according to a strange hybrid American-British style. It's bad news when a book representing the "zero tolerance approach to punctuation" encourages errors by example (I'm thinking here particularly of the punctuation of quotes, which in addition to following neither American nor British convention aren't even internally consistent). The book contains some interesting trivia and history, but this content tends to be submerged under the deluge of grade-school level examples of how "its" and "it's" are to be used. Give me a break. Yes, I'm interested in the history and evolution of punctuation. But I'm not interested in wading through ten pages of "apostrophes for dummies" to get to one good page on Thurber, Ross, and the Oxford comma.Sorry. It just doesn't cut the mustard. If the goal was to write a primer, write a primer. Maybe add a few more pictures of pandas. Otherwise, lose the training wheels.
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Summary: Eats, Shoots & Leaves
Review: I am dismayed by the reviewers who dismissed this book. It is an educational, entertaining and interesting book. Very worthwhile for those of us who could use help with our English and even for those whose English is perfect. I've recommended this book to several people and think it would be a great gift to anyone who speaks and writes English. Buy this book. You won't regret it. It's one of those books that you want to keep for youself and not pass on to friends.
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Summary: An underrated, misunderstood and ignored problem
Review: Does anyone else who really knows what they're talking about find it entertaining that the majority of negative reviews for this book contain punctuation errors? I'd also like to give Ms. Truss a hug for dressing down the movie title "Two Weeks Notice" in a television interview. Seeing that title made me cringe. Folks, there is no difference between where Brits and Americans are supposed to put a colon, a semicolon, a comma or an apostrophe. The humor may seem a little odd to some, but the information is solid. If the language bothers you that much, purchase both this book and a subscription to BBC America for some perspective.
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Summary: Pulls, Chains and Legs
Review: If you care about proper writing and are responsible for creating it--whether in legal briefs, novels, newspaper columns, or daily memos to the boss--you ought to take time to read this. In ten-minute doses, a few days will get you through it with ease and a contented smile. And starting a sentence with and is one thing she and I disagree about. But (and that's another) that doesn't detract from either the accuracy of her points or the sting of her barbs. I received it as a gift, but would have gladly paid three times the asking price to obtain a copy.
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