Customer Reviews
Should be compulsory reading for every office worker! - By: P. Smith, 13 Nov 2008 
I have for many years been what the author calls a "stickler", i.e. someone who exercises total pedantry where punctuation is concerned. Her book has, therefore, given me the utmost pleasure: whilst reading it I nodded & smiled my agreement at just about every paragraph. In addition, Ms Truss's humour made me laugh out loud on occasion (much to my embarrassment & to the consternation of people around me who observed that I was merely reading about what they saw as boring old punctuation). This book must surely amuse & delight all those "sticklers" who flinch (or worse) when they encounter errors of punctuation (sadly, not just by greengrocers) & should be compulsory reading for all office workers (including the bosses, who dictate commas to their poor, beleaguered secretaries, intending them to goin totally inappropriate places & who have no idea what a semicolon is for). Good on yer, Lynne, & more power to your apostrophe (not to mention your sadly misunderstood semicolon)!
Interestingly, this book gave me reasons for the punctuation I have used (possibly inappropriately at times), as a matter of course over the years without really knowing why, & has corrected mein areas where I was unsure & may have been at fault. It's a book to keep by one's side as a guide for times whenin doubt - & who isn'tin doubt from time to time? I'm sure someone will answer me on this review to point out where I've failed to punctuate it correctly!!!
I bought "Talk to the Hand" for my husband, who is a "manners stickler", last Christmas & he also sat nodding & smiling (and even quietly commenting, "Oh my goodness, yes!") whilst reading it (or even more colourfully now & again!). I therefore think Ms Truss must have a real talent for getting people to nod & smile (and be even more colourful!!!). Good for her! I urge you to read both books, to learn & enjoy the (very painless) lessons!
Irritating - By: doublegone, 15 Oct 2008 
I had expected to find this book amusing but ended up throwing it against the wallin irritation.
To my mind, I don't need my greengrocer to be terribly literate. When he scrawls "carrot's" on his price list, I know what he means. There is absolutely no confusion. And yet there will always be some know-allin the shop who will make a remark. Well now one of the know-alls has written a book & earned a fortune from all the other up-tight pedantic, lower middle class aspiring to be upper middle class gits who have bought it.
Don't get me wrong, I would very much like people who need to be literate to be literate. But for those of us who don't, could middle England please unclench its buttocks & take a chill-pill. Communication is what matters & the market trader who missplaces some punctuation is still understood.
Bad punctuation. Its hardly the holocaust. Get a life.
Delicious Miniature - By: Andy, 09 Aug 2008 
On the state of the nation's punctuation: this sounds like the kind of essay topic a prefect would award a wayward junior as punishment for some minor infringement ("500 words on the inside of a ping-pong ball", etc). However, this book turns out to be a funny, clever & witty tragi-comic diatribe.
Simply a wonderful book for learning punctuation - By: M. S. Ridgeway, 01 Apr 2008 A gem of a book. I would recommend this book for just about anyone who's wanting to improve their punctuation, as well as those who feel they need to refresh or even re-learn the art of punctuation.
It's a great & easy read & can even be used as a decent reference.
You can't help cheering it on, because it has done such a good job in its humble way - By: John A. Launders, 28 Jan 2008 How does a book about how to use commas & 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 & 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 & I wouldn't mind knowing this stuff. Those copies stackedin 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 eitherin print orin person. The title itself is a joke, about an irate panda who walks into a cafe, orders a sandwich, eats it, draws a gun & fires two shots into the air. The waiter finds the explanation for this erratic behaviorin a badly punctuated wildlife manual which the bear leaves behind: Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots & leaves.
Eats, Shoots & Leaves: Why, Commas Really Do Make a Difference! tells you the rules, but is also full of jokes & anecdotes. It is a sort of celebration of punctuation. You can't help cheering it on, because it has done such a good jobin 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 interestedin 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 & see what state it's in. The internet & emails have come along very conveniently for people who didn't learn punctuation & can therefore get by. Punctuation helps give rhythm & a tone of voice to writing, & 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 & it becomes very bald. So people start needing exclamation marks & capital letters, desperately trying to express a tone of voice.
