Eats, Shoots & Leaves

The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation

By: Lynne Truss

Narrated by: Lynne Truss

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.

Critic reviews

“You don’t need to be a grammar nerd to enjoy this one… 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

“Witty, smart, passionate, it gives long-overdue attention to ‘the traffic signals of language.’”—John Rechy, Los Angeles Times Book Review “Best Books of 2004: Nonfiction”

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

“[Truss is] a reformer with the soul of a stand-up comedian.” —Boston Globe

“ 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 of anyone who cares about grammar and a gentle introduction for those who don’t care enough.” —Boston Sunday Globe

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

“A witty look at the amusing foibles of punctuation.” —Reader’s Digest

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

“Witty and playful.” —Time Out New York

Educational and witty

The information made me rethink and look around me more distinctly.
My grade school teachers strictly fought tirelessly against run on sentences. Yet, it was not addressed here.

Interviews were funny

Enjoyed hearing the stories by those interviewed by the author . Best parts were the comas and semicolons.

Eats, Shoots & Leaves

Cute, but because it is a collection of radio broadcasts, it becomes very formulaic and predictable. Enjoyable for a quick listen, but seemed long, although it was only an hour in length.

Disappointed

I wanted to listen to the best-selling book referenced several times. This is a radio boradcast that inspired the book.

interesting listen

good book, well narrated, really takes me back to my elementary school days and remind me of the good old classical grammar structures of days past.