A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail (Mass Market Paperback)

The Appalachian Trail trail stretches from Georgia to Maine and covers some of the most breathtaking terrain in Americaƒ??majestic mountains, silent forests, sparking lakes. If youƒ??re going to take a hike, itƒ??s probably the place to go. And Bill Bryson is surely the most entertaing guide youƒ??ll find. He introduces us to the history and ecology of the trail and to some of the other hardy (or just foolhardy) folks he meets along the wayƒ??and a couple of bears. Already a classic, A Walk in the Woods will make you long for the great outdoors (or at least a comfortable chair to sit and read in).

We all know the basics of punctuation. Or do we? A look at most neighborhood signage tells a different story. Through sloppy usage and low standards on the Internet, in e-mail, and now text messages, we have made proper punctuation an endangered species.

In Eats, Shoots & Leaves, former editor Truss dares to say, in her delightfully urbane, witty, and very English way, that it is time to look at our commas and semicolons and see them as the wonderful and necessary things they are. This is a book for people who love punctuation and get upset when it is mishandled. From the invention of the question mark in the time of Charlemagne to George Orwell shunning the semicolon, this lively history makes a powerful case for the preservation of a system of printing conventions that is much too subtle to be mucked about with.

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.
“Im 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.”