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 Cleese’s 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. It’s the perfect gift for anyone who cares about grammar and a gentle introduction for those who don’t care enough.”
—The Boston Sunday Globe

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

“If Lynne Truss were Roman Catholic I’d nominate her for sainthood.” —Frank McCourt, author of Angela’s Ashes

“Truss’s scholarship is impressive and never dry.”
—Edmund Morris, The New York Times Book Review

Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
An unexpected bestseller on both sides of the pond, Eats, Shoots & Leaves is British journalist Lynn Truss's entertaining anecdotal history of English punctuation. A former literary editor who must have wielded a formidable blue pencil in her day, Truss is one of a handful of admitted sticklers who actually care about the proper use of commas, apostrophes, semicolons, and dashes. (Yes, even in emails!) Yet she writes so beguilingly, it's easy to forget she has an ax to grind. A publisher's note and an author's preface address the subtle differences between Anglo and American punctuation, but (happily) the book retains its distinctly British accent. Yanks will love the references to chemists, shopkeepers, queues, Brit pop culture, and both houses of Parliament. Anne Markowski

ANNOTATION

1592401368A panda walks into a caf¿¿¿. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and fires two shots in the air.

Why? asks the confused waiter, as the panda makes towards the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder.

I¿¿¿m a panda, he says, at the door. Look it up.

The waiter turns to the relevant entry and, sure enough, finds an explanation.

Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves. So punctuation really does matter, even if it is only occasionally a matter of life and death.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

In 2002 Lynne Truss presented Cutting a Dash, a well-received BBC Radio 4 series about punctuation, which led to the writing of Eats, Shoots & Leaves. The book became a runaway success in the UK, hitting number one on the bestseller lists and prompting extraordinary headlines such as Grammar Book Tops Bestseller List (BBC News). With more than 500,000 copies of her book in print in her native England, Lynne Truss is ready to rally the troops on this side of the pond with her rousing cry, Sticklers unite!

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 Lynne 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. If there are only pedants left who care, then so be it. This is a book for people who love punctuation and get upset when it is mishandled. From George Orwell shunning the semicolon, to New Yorker editor Harold Ross's epic arguments with James Thurber over commas, 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.

FROM THE CRITICS

The New York Times

Eats, Shoots & Leaves takes its title from a mispunctuated phrase about a panda. In Britain, where this rib-tickling little book has been a huge success and its panda joke apparently recited in the House of Lords, Ms. Truss has proved to be anything but a lone voice. Despite her assertion that "being burned as a witch is not safely enough off the agenda" for the punctuation-minded stickler, Ms. Truss obviously hit a raw nerve. For those who are tired of seeing signs like "Bobs' Motors" and think an "Eight Items or Less" checkout sign should read "Eight Items or Fewer," boy, is this book for you. — Janet Maslin

Gail Zoë Garnett - The Globe and Mail (Toronto)

...Eats, Shoot & Leaves is visually vivid, funny, informative (and/or corroborative), and a worthy addition to any logophile's library.... You have rather a lot of delightfully delineated information to gain from reading Eats, Shoots & Leaves, as thousands of Britons have already discovered.

Publishers Weekly

Who would have thought a book about punctuation could cause such a sensation? Certainly not its modest if indignant author, who began her surprise hit motivated by "horror" and "despair" at the current state of British usage: ungrammatical signs ("BOB,S PETS"), headlines ("DEAD SONS PHOTOS MAY BE RELEASED") and band names ("Hear'Say") drove journalist and novelist Truss absolutely batty. But this spirited and wittily instructional little volume, which was a U.K. #1 bestseller, is not a grammar book, Truss insists; like a self-help volume, it "gives you permission to love punctuation." Her approach falls between the descriptive and prescriptive schools of grammar study, but is closer, perhaps, to the latter. (A self-professed "stickler," Truss recommends that anyone putting an apostrophe in a possessive "its"-as in "the dog chewed it's bone"-should be struck by lightning and chopped to bits.) Employing a chatty tone that ranges from pleasant rant to gentle lecture to bemused dismay, Truss dissects common errors that grammar mavens have long deplored (often, as she readily points out, in isolation) and makes elegant arguments for increased attention to punctuation correctness: "without it there is no reliable way of communicating meaning." Interspersing her lessons with bits of history (the apostrophe dates from the 16th century; the first semicolon appeared in 1494) and plenty of wit, Truss serves up delightful, unabashedly strict and sometimes snobby little book, with cheery Britishisms ("Lawks-a-mussy!") dotting pages that express a more international righteous indignation. Agent, George Lucas. (On sale Apr. 13) Forecast: With 600,000 copies of the Profile Books edition in print (up from an original print run of 15,000 in November 2003), it's obvious that Truss's book has struck a nerve. Her volume may not reach such dizzying heights here-perhaps in part due to timing (there can't be Christmas runs in April)-but it'll make a lot of Stateside sticklers very, very happy. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal

Adult/High School-The title refers to the "Panda" entry in a poorly punctuated wildlife manual that, if believed, indicates the panda is truly to be feared, especially after eating. Truss, a self-described "punctuation stickler," has written a humorous but helpful guide that was a surprise best-seller in England. The book has been exported without re-editing, so some of the humor and grammar are "veddy" British; however, much of the information and history of punctuation are universal. The author takes pains to distinguish British versus American usage in her discussions. She is horrified at signs like BANANAS' and express checkout lines for "15 items or less." The short chapters are easy to follow and the discussions are light yet substantial. Punctuation marks are discussed individually with known history, geographical differences, and common mistakes. Teens will enjoy reading for fun and even for elucidation; a lot of information is packed into this small book.-Susan H. Woodcock, Fairfax County Public Library, Chantilly, VA Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

Sticklers unite! What people are saying about Eats, Shoots & Leaves If Lynne Truss were Roman Catholic I¿¿¿d nominate her for sainthood. As it is, thousands of English teachers from Maine to Maui will be calling down blessings on her merry, learned head. (author of Angela¿¿¿s Ashes) — Frank McCourt

There is a multitude of us riding this planet for whom apostrophe catastrophes, quotation bloatation, mad dashes, and other comma-tose errors squeak like chalk across the blackboard of our sensibilities. At last we who are punctilious about punctuation have a manifesto, and it is titled Eats, Shoots & Leaves. — (Richard Lederer, author of A Man of My Words and Anguished English)

At long last, a worthy tribute to punctuation¿¿¿s stepchildren: the neglected semicolon, the enigmatic ellipsis and the mad dash. Punc-rock on! — (James Lipton, author of An Exaltation of Larks and writer and host of Inside the Actors Studio)