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65 reviews for:
The Great Typo Hunt: Two Friends Changing the World, One Correction at a Time
Jeff Deck
3.18 AVERAGE
65 reviews for:
The Great Typo Hunt: Two Friends Changing the World, One Correction at a Time
Jeff Deck
3.18 AVERAGE
funny
lighthearted
reflective
Loved the concept, but the tone was a little heavy handed. It felt like the authors took themselves a bit to seriously. I couldn't finish it, but I'm glad I read what I did.
I laughed out loud through parts of this fun, quirky book, not something I usually do. The idea behind the story is incredibly simple: take a road trip around the country correcting typos in public places. But Deck draws you into the story, with cliffhangers at nearly every chapter end. In the prefaces to each chapter he imagines himself a grammar superhero, fighting the dark powers of ignorance and defensiveness. He questions why he is doing this, and ends up on all kinds of interesting tangents about language, history and life in modern America. Lovers of language and anyone who has ever been outraged by an improperly placed apostrophe will enjoy this.
A great idea, but a little underwhelming, and I never quite got into the humor of the intentional overwriting (or maybe it just wasn't that funny.
However, I was surprised by the discussions of sociology, philosophy, etc. that the trip engendered, and found some enlightening. For example, I didn't anticipate a digression about how retail workers have no incentive to make good decisions because they can only be punished for bad ones. (Or, as it's put on p68 -- "Our gift to those above us in the company hierarchy is legitimacy and their dubious gift to us is simplified cognition.")
Was also interested in the thoughts about how we teach spelling by memorization, but rarely discuss the rules or where they come from. I'm fairly well steeped in grammar (at least, compared to the average citizen), but hadn't thought about a lot of it.
Another good point about the rules being needed because written rules are all, to some extent, arbitrary, since speaking is innate but writing is not.
Not sure about the last chapter focusing on Direct Instruction. Sounds like a valuable technique, but not sure it fit in this book.
However, I was surprised by the discussions of sociology, philosophy, etc. that the trip engendered, and found some enlightening. For example, I didn't anticipate a digression about how retail workers have no incentive to make good decisions because they can only be punished for bad ones. (Or, as it's put on p68 -- "Our gift to those above us in the company hierarchy is legitimacy and their dubious gift to us is simplified cognition.")
Was also interested in the thoughts about how we teach spelling by memorization, but rarely discuss the rules or where they come from. I'm fairly well steeped in grammar (at least, compared to the average citizen), but hadn't thought about a lot of it.
Another good point about the rules being needed because written rules are all, to some extent, arbitrary, since speaking is innate but writing is not.
Not sure about the last chapter focusing on Direct Instruction. Sounds like a valuable technique, but not sure it fit in this book.
Funny, engaging writing style, but it kind of went on and on....and while I notice typos in EVERYTHING, I still wasn't all that interested in a lot of the story. Although the issue that happened near the end definitely gave some of the work a more serious aspect.
I am so glad I did not ditch this book after the first couple of very dull chapters. It really picked up and became quite amusing, and then, all of a sudden, took a very unexpected turn! You will be surprised and entertained.
The tale of a quixotic jaunt around the USA to correct typos, misspellings, and grammatical errors everywhere, this book is written in an uneasy amalgam of jocularity, anachronistic fustiness, and slightly muddled not-so-righteous indignation. It's also an odd little travelogue and buddy narrative that rattles along much of the book, to end in some unexpected (and well-deserved) negative consequences for the travelers.
The authors partly blame poor phonics instruction for some of the persistent errors people make, and further make the mistake of fixing upon the routinized, scripted chanted Direct Instruction model as a possible answer. Good phonics instruction does indeed make some spelling errors much less likely, but it's a lot more complicated than that.
However, the book is on the whole a diverting read, despite its flaws, and the stories of odd little encounters with shopkeepers and the musings on the ethics of correcting people's grammar make it worth reading.
I also didn't catch any unintended typos. Because I am someone who (a) learned to read with phonics, (b) is a visual reader, (c) taught middle school English, and (d) has been a voracious reader all her life, I can't avoid seeing any errors in my reading.
The authors partly blame poor phonics instruction for some of the persistent errors people make, and further make the mistake of fixing upon the routinized, scripted chanted Direct Instruction model as a possible answer. Good phonics instruction does indeed make some spelling errors much less likely, but it's a lot more complicated than that.
However, the book is on the whole a diverting read, despite its flaws, and the stories of odd little encounters with shopkeepers and the musings on the ethics of correcting people's grammar make it worth reading.
I also didn't catch any unintended typos. Because I am someone who (a) learned to read with phonics, (b) is a visual reader, (c) taught middle school English, and (d) has been a voracious reader all her life, I can't avoid seeing any errors in my reading.
I would like to have this cross-country editing adventure some day. It took far too long for me to finish this, but quite fitting that I completed it on National Grammar Day.
A very entertaining tale of what can be learned about attitudes, history, meaning, and oh, yes, grammar, from a trip across the country correcting typos.
Jeff Deck's goal on his cross-country typo-fixing trip was simple: "to enhance the clarity of the message." He and his friends tried to get permission whenever possible to make changes. Sometimes they were greeted with hostility, sometimes confusion, and sometimes gratitude. One correction resulted in a federal case (really -- it's pretty interesting). But the book is not merely a chronicle of typos fixed; it's an exploration of language and culture, and even class and race. The typos are fun (and funny), but the authors' cultural observations are keen and thoughtfully discussed.
Full review here:
http://www.kansas.com/2010/08/08/1437998/chronicle-of-typo-fixing-entertains.html
Full review here:
http://www.kansas.com/2010/08/08/1437998/chronicle-of-typo-fixing-entertains.html