This is both more thoughtful and more humorous than the title implies. It was interesting to compare cultural and generational differences in our approaches to social interaction. I agree with her on many points, but I also live in a small town in Wisconsin, where most of the people I meet on the street or in stores are nice to strangers because that's still how we're raised to be. Many of her experiences in "shops" or when using public transportation don't really apply to my daily experience. I can see more of what she's talking about when I look at my Yahoo home page "news" items or when I'm navigating a menu of options on the phone, trying to get to a real person.

I'd be interested to see if her ideas of the decline in customer service have changed at all in this current climate of unemployment and people needing to hold on to their jobs or businesses for dear life. I imagine her attitude toward do-it-yourself service would be the same, and I'd agree with her, but I think the face-to-face interactions may be shifting back to the more traditional approach of appeasing customers to keep from losing their business.

I liked the emphasis in her conclusion on each of us doing our part if we want things to change, rather than this being simply a book of funny ranting. It made me laugh and it made me reflect. Good ol' Lynne Truss. ( )

Early in the book, Lynne Truss says that it didn't need to be written and gives several reasons. She is right. She probably felt better afterwards, though Perhaps it needed to be written, but not published. ( )

Having loved her previous best seller, Eats, Shoots & Leaves, I was looking forward to more great humor (based on reality) and clever observations on the sorry state of today's society. Unfortunately, it's not as funny, although it is clever. Perhaps first-time success is impossible to duplicate. This one didn't satisfy as much as the first book. Am I glad I read it? Yes. Would I read it again? No. Is it worth reading? Yes. Just go in with no expectations. ( )

The world is a ruder place. Humorous commentary on manners and the state of the world today. ( )

A joyous rant against the everyday institutionalised rudeness of modern life. ( )