I’m not really sure what the purpose of the book is supposed to be. I thought it was somewhat of a rant against bad spellers, but it isn’t, really. It’s a mixed bag of things cobbled together into a hodge podge of semi-related things—tests that see how well you can spell, blurbs about the evolution of the English language and how some words evolved over time, a review of some of the rules and fallacies of spelling, including the “i before e except after c” rule (which doesn’t hold much water, by the way) and various and sundry other things. There were photos of stupid spelling mistakes in newspapers (but they weren’t very good ones) and lists of differences between English English and American English, quotations from various famous people about spelling, lists of ways our modern culture has bastardized the language further with things like internet acronyms, texting language, etc.

It was very poorly organized without a clear mission that I could glean. I love words and bits about their origins and the evolution of the language, but these bits weren’t even that well-done. (Oh yes; there was a section about hyphenated words too. LOL) I think the author wrote it just because he was pissed off that people think he’s a woman because his name is Vivian. I dunno! I wouldn’t really recommend the book. It took me about an hour to read through it and I was decidedly unimpressed. ( )

Spotty. Some good information on the English language. Fun insights into word origins and resultant spelling. But, a lot of lists that are just too long to be interesting, and began to seem pretty repititious about halfway through. Best if left by on a side-table to be picked up and browsed once in awhile, but there are better books about words than this to leave on the side table.

Having said that, it would be a good reference to keep in the library, except that it has no table of contents nor index that would allow you to find that interesting discussion of the origins of some spelling convention.

Also, can be confusing to the American reader, in that references to spelling and pronunciation that are particulary England English are not always noted, so that some of the information would seem to make no sense until you hear the words with an ear towards how it's pronounced on BBC-America.. ( )

Tries to be alot of things to alot of people and ends up not being much of anything to anyone - found myself skipping sections. Interesting in parts but not enough to make me want to read it again - will be disposing of soon. ( )

I suspect this was an attempt to get in on the interest generated by Eats, Shoots and Leaves by Lynne Truss. It disappoints. I also wonder if the irony of the first review here was intended ("A humourous look at spelling and gramar.")

I shall stand by my 2 star rating - I didn't enjoy the book. ( )

A humourous look at spelling and gramar. ( )