Most writers punctuate. Not everyone punctuates correctly. Few punctuate well.

Lynne Truss’s best-seller, Eats, Shoots & Leaves is certain to raise each reader’s writing one large notch. As a bonus, it is a great read; witty, caustic, and wise. If only I had written this review before the book’s meteoric climb to the top best-seller lists (where it remains). Had I done so this would not now be in the company of the hundreds of other reviews, mostly positive, ranging from warm praise to exuberance. Only a few—notably that by Louis Menand in the New Yorker (June 28, 2004, pp 102–4)—are profoundly critical. (Methinks Menand must be a sourpuss.)

This is a book to be read for fun and profit. If all contributors …