dakota44

I was recently considering the purchase of the book in the photo here attached. I have not purchased it yet because I have been preoccupied with the grammar used in the title. I will not state my issue with it, but will wait to see if anyone else reads it the way that I do. I am sure they were trying to be grammatically cute by placing the title where it is and the authors name where it is But even then it becomes a punctuation discussion. Good grief, I am so bored. Can you tell?

spouse of scouse

I'm taking 5 minutes between shopping and visiting my sister, so I'll 'ave a go
If we disregard the different fonts and read the entire text as one sentence, there should be a comma after 'this', another after 'race', another after 'me', and yet a bloody another after 'Perlroth'.

The way the text is presented annoys me, enough to put me off buying the book. I'm very shallow like that

dakota44

Damn, you sound like me. The commas would be correct, of course, but it is still playing too cute with grammar. I have not bought the book yet because it annoys me as well and I would be preoccupied with checking her grammar.

dave_j

I disagree. I think you're over-reading the meaning within the text.
The punctuation, such as it is, is embedded within the text in the different fonts.
The text is not intended to be read as one whole.
The main title is "THIS IS HOW THEY TELL ME THE WORLD ENDS"
It is complemented by supplementary text that invites you to read it as the answer to the implied question 'What is it that they tell you?' and you read this in both lower case and smaller font intended to discriminate it from the main body, and the answer is of course "The Cyber-Weapons Arms Race".
This interpretation is supported by the fact that the authoress is included in a similar lower case small font that is intended to answer yet another implied question "Who is telling me this?"
No commas are needed.

dakota44

The entire issue of grammar began with the supposed 'main title' as you described it. The words THIS IS HOW, if correctly used, describe the manner in which something is done. The title, in this case, should have been THIS, THEY TELL ME, IS HOW THE WORLD ENDS. They just played cute with the use of text as supposed commas to try and legitimize what they did.

BristolUK

Did you not buy Little Feat records because the lyrics never had capitalisation?

dakota44

I did not buy any Little Feat records, for a very good reason. I've never heard of him. Of course I am assuming it is a him, for no particular reason. Could be a her. No clue.

BristolUK

It's a them.

robin1234

This is how (they tell me) the world ends.

Everything about the book is very annoying. And all I’ve seen is the cover.

Lion in Winter

I blame James Joyce and his stream of bloody consciousness. That's where the rot set in.

Tweedpipe

Actually, before getting as far as the attached photo of the book cover, the very first thing I observed was your omission of a full stop between the word 'it' and your capitalized 'But'.
Normally that wouldn't have bothered me, but it becomes especially significant as you raise this as a punctuation discussion.
Regarding buying the book to read, if the title particularly interested me, I'd first Google a few book reviews such as goodreads.com or similar. I also see that Amazon has it listed as a 'best-seller', which may possibly just be marketing hype.
No, the way the text is presented doesn't annoy me enough to justify not buying the book, if the reviews were positive.

LuTziE

My grammar is so bad, but since she is 98 I am not surprised.

Lion in Winter

LuTziE

LOL.
It is like the word therapist. dont put a space between the E and R

Bob

'ello you! Been a long while. Hope all's good