Just My Typo by Drummond Moir

[verymuchmeg]

I was pretty excited when I saw this on the list of offerings in my Blogging For Books account, so I immediately selected it to be sent my way for a review. It arrived this afternoon, and I surely wasn't disappointed.

First off, Just My Typo is a collection of hilarious typos. It is not the kind of book you can expect to spend very long reading. In one sitting, it took me less than an hour to polish off this collection of gems. However, I was laughing the whole time. Some of these would be fun to Tweet, share with friends, or read aloud at the beginning of a class. I can see my husband using these in his high school English classroom to illustrate the importance of things like proofreading and paying attention.

Since the days of Benjamin Franklin (and even before, as one might recall is the case in "the Wicked Bible," a printing of the Bible in which a typo instructs readers to commit adultery), humans have been amused by, frustrated by, humiliated by, and fascinated with typos. Franklin himself authored an article entitled "Printers' Errors" in 1729, in which he includes, and then discusses various typos, much to the delight of his readers, I'm sure. And, if we're being honest, not much has changed.

As humans, we don't want to make mistakes, and we certainly don't want attention drawn to the mistakes we do make... but we sure don't mind pointing out the mistakes of others and then laughing at them wholeheartedly. To that end, Just My Typo includes several themed sections, including:

To Be or To Be: typos in literature
The Fourth Mistake: typos in the media
The Word Stage: typos of historical & political significance
The Lingua Franca: typos abroad
Food for Thought: gastronomic typos
Crime and Punishment: legal typos
The Cost of a Comma: the most expensive typos
Autocorrect Dystopia: the future of the typo
Immaculate Contraption: kids' typos
Miisprints of Biblical Proportions: holy typos
The Best Love in the Whore World: typos of a romantic persuasion
Life and Death: when typos kill
At the end, readers are encouraged to email their favorite funny typos to Justmytypo@hodder.co.uk , with the chance for the best ones to be included in future editions.

All in all, this book is exactly what it claims to be: an amusing collection of typos. If you're interested in that kind of thing, then you will enjoy Just My Typo.