Eats, Shoots & Leaves

Have you read the popular book Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss? The subtitle is The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation. It's about correct punctuation. Or at least it's supposed to be.

I have read it, and I read it outside my "writing teacher" role; I simply read it to be entertained. And I was. It's funny, clever, and lively.

Then I read a review that pointed out the many punctuation mistakes in the book. So I looked at the book again. The review was right. And I remembered that I had been confused about a few of the punctuation choices in the book. Hmm. A book about correct punctuation that contains a bunch of punctuation mistakes.

Well, judge for yourself. Here are two reviews to read. One is positive:

• James Speta (law professor a Northwestern Univ. School of Law) wrote a review in 13 Perspectives: Teaching Legal Research and Writing 156 (2005).

And one is not:

• Bryan A. Garner, Don't Know Much About Punctuation: Notes on a Stickler Wannabe, 83 Tex. L. Rev. 1443 (2005).