Shady characters : Ampersands, interrobangs and other typographical curiosities / Keith Houston
What is it: all things punctuation and then some
Did I like it: yes exclamation mark
Me: Everything I had ever wondered about weird symbols and punctuation is answered in this book.
Friend C2: You wonder about punctuation?
Me: You don’t‽
The foreword was an indication that the author and I wonder about the same things. The difference between us is that he couldn’t let it go and ended up with so much research that it could be bundled into a book, whereas I only had to buy his book to have my questions answered.
I didn’t read this book because I’m a purist where it comes to punctuation, as anyone who is can probably easily tell from my writing: I throw in commas and (semi)colons where it feels right, rather than bother to investigate and make sure they are in the right spot. At best I use the Word grammar check to help me out, but the squiggly lines annoy me and often I’m not sure whether the suggestion is actually right, so I click “ignore this” way too often. My interest in punctuation is more the history of it, who came up with something and why, and what’s with the names of the symbols. This books covers it all and then some.
I learned about this book because articles about “stories hidden in your keyboard” are total clickbait for me. Fresh out of my reading slump, I skipped to the bookshop to get my hands on this read. And boy, does it deliver: the author did a deep dive into the pilcrow, octothorpe, and ampersand. If these names don’t mean anything to you, I’m sure you recognize their symbols: ¶ # &. These and other symbols each get their own chapters. I liked how the author put the symbols to use in the text, creating easy and clear examples. I’ve already memorized the code for entering an interrobang (‽ : a combination of an exclamation mark and a question mark) on a windows computer (alt+8253) and have probably been using it too often.
The one thing I found annoying, but that’s a general pet peeve and not something particular to this book, is when the text of a footnote continues onto the bottom of the next page. It disrupts the reading experience, and I would prefer a footnote that is limited to one page, even if it were to take up more space than normal.
Moving on.
This book taught me so much about typography and editorial work, and I’m sure the book is a standard in those worlds, but it is a dream to read for grammar nerds and curious minds as well; there are plenty of images to illustrate topics, there is an index and a vast list of notes. It’s not boring at all, in fact, it’s rather entertaining; the chapters travel through time, from graffiti in Pompeii to Johannes Guthenberg’s printer to touchtone telephones and the first email. It is worth pointing out that the book focuses on Western writing and publishing.
Bonus points for the wonderful title.
Bookworm in the City 