greeneyesandnotes Posted August 29, 2015 Posted August 29, 2015 Hello fine ladies and gentlefolk. I am going to review one of the most important and one of the most satisfying books I have read in my life so far. This review will be on the short side. What's more, it will not spiral and drag on for pages and pages. If this book, taught me one thing; it is that great word and concept, brevity. As the immortal words go; 'Brevity is the soul of wit'. I believe Bill Shakes wrote that...but I could be wrong Anyway, the book I am going to review is 'The Penguin Guide To Punctuation' by R.L. Trask. It is quite frankly a marvellous book and unlike other factual books I have read - the titles of which I can't currently conjure up - it has the distinction of being an educational book that is hard to put down. The pros of this book are the following; I'll begin by saying that the various forms of punctuation are split up into digestible sections, with chapter title headings such as, Chapter 3: The Comma, Chapter 5: The Apostrophe and Chapter 10: Punctuating Essays and Letters. Also the book includes fantastically interesting sections such as 9.9: Diacritics. Diacritics, I found out to my great delight, is the formal term for what many call 'accents'. How charming that fact is my dear readers! Anyway, I must say that in this section we get a nice range of examples which utilise diacritics. How about this one? Lloyd George was the Tories' be(circumflex accent over the first e) te noire Or this one, She was an artist manqué(acute accent over the first e) e Now on the cons of this book. I am afraid to say that I cannot find any of them, anywhere, at all. I am staggered by how excellent this book is and I recommend to any one. It was almost perfectly written. From the layout of the chapters to the examples used to the attention to detail; often I have been accused of being overly dramatic but I do believe my reactions in this case are justified. Quite frankly, this incredible book by R.L. Trask left me short of breath. Review by Owen Rhys Carter Rating: (5/5 stars) Date: 29/08/2015
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