CATEGORY

We all know the basics of punctuation. Or do we? A look at most neighborhood signage tells a different story. Through sloppy usage and low standards on the Internet, in e-mail, and now text messages, we have made proper punctuation an endangered species.

In Eats, Shoots & Leaves, former editor Truss dares to say, in her delightfully urbane, witty, and very English way, that it is time to look at our commas and semicolons and see them as the wonderful and necessary things they are. This is a book for people who love punctuation and get upset when it is mishandled. From the invention of the question mark in the time of Charlemagne to George Orwell shunning the semicolon, this lively history makes a powerful case for the preservation of a system of printing conventions that is much too subtle to be mucked about with. BACKCOVER: Praise for Lynne Truss and Eats, Shoots & Leaves:

Eats, Shoots & Leaves makes correct usage so cool that you have to admire Ms. Truss.
Janet Maslin, The New York Times

Witty, smart, passionate.
Los Angeles Times Book Review, Best Books Of 2004: Nonfiction

Who knew grammar could be so much fun?
Newsweek

Witty and instructive. . . . Truss is an entertaining, well-read scold in a culture that could use more scolding.
USA Today Truss is William Safire crossed with John Cleeses Basil Fawlty.
Entertainment Weekly

Lynne Truss has done the English-speaking world a huge service.
The Christian Science Monitor

This book changed my life in small, perfect ways like learning how to make better coffee or fold an omelet. Its the perfect gift for anyone who cares about grammar and a gentle introduction for those who dont care enough.
The Boston Sunday Globe

Lynne Truss makes [punctuation] a joy to contemplate.
Elle

If Lynne Truss were Roman Catholic Id nominate her for sainthood. Frank McCourt, author of Angelas Ashes

Trusss scholarship is impressive and never dry.
Edmund Morris, The New York Times Book Review