"Eats, Shoots & Leaves" by Lynne Truss

A panda walks into a cafe.  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 back cover)

I never thought that I would read a book cover to cover solely about punctuation, much less enjoy it.   I first heard of this British bestseller from my friend Tiffany's reading blog.  Filled with humor and British snobbery/wit, Truss details the histories of different beloved punctuation marks and how they have been used and abused over time.  What really struck me is how punctuation is constantly evolving, yet it is very important!  It's a perilous future out there for our friends the apostrophe, the comma, and the hyphen.  In our abbreviated text-messaging society, what will the future hold?  Regardless, this is a fun quick read for anyone interested in language or writing.  It's caused me to be much more aware of the punctuation I use and if it is truly helping guide the reader.  No doubt this will serve me well as I'll be writing many a paper in seminary next year.  Unleash your inner stickler!