Talk to the Hand, a book about the decline of manners in Western society was authored by the same person as Eats, Shoots & Leaves. You may have heard of the latter as it was a best seller that discussed of all things, the decline of grammar in the world. Between a grammar book and a book discussing rudeness, the author’s first impression seems to be a pedantic old woman with chip on her aristocratic shoulder. A view that she herself jokes about.

In all seriousness however, a book about manners is a tough sell nowadays. Either you side with the author’s claim that people have become increasingly rude and profusely agree with everything in the book, or you contribute to the cause and, as Truss would say our society puts it, tell her to “Eff Off”.

I personally bought this book because it seemed like it would be interesting and was on sale. It has a British angle to it (the author is from there) and reads much like a one-sided conversation with Truss. There were some interesting but short real life examples, but her writing is not as engrossing as some other authors (i.e. Gladwell). I had expected that she would complain about Americans, and while she somewhat did do that, I could do with more US bashing.

Posted by Kevin in Blogs Tags: reading