Staff Book and Media Recommendations

Denise Lozeau is a Library Specialist II at the University of Central Oklahoma.

The Great Typo Hunt: Two friends changing the world, one correction at a time

Jeff Deck

Notes: The Great Typo Hunt is a humorous, insightful tale of adventure, misplaced apostrophes, and the open road. It describes how we took a two-and-a-half month drive around the United States to fix typos in public signage, toting an arsenal of typo correction that included markers, Wite-Out, and chalk—and how we were later summoned to federal court for defacing a historic sign at the Grand Canyon.

Besides detailing the comical adventures of typo correcting, the book shows how the pursuit of typos led us to broader social issues, such as cultural homogenization, race relations, workplace repression, and education. There have been books about spelling and grammatical errors, and there have been books about quixotic road trips, but ours is the first to combine the two - not to mention the first book about fixing typos rather than complaining about them.

Anyone who's ever been annoyed or frustrated by a typo will enjoy this book. Editors, teachers, educational administrators, librarians, and writers will especially relate to the tale; the many amateur grammarians from other walks of life will also gravitate to The Great Typo Hunt (we heard from plenty during the trip!). If you enjoy adventurous exploits with plenty of grammatical swashbuckling, our book is for you! http://greattypohunt.com/?page_id=19

Review: The title of The Great Typo Hunt really grabbed my attention because I’m one of those people that cringe at the sight of a typo on any public sign or published materials. My reaction is always, "That is so obvious! How did that get by them???" and makes me fear for the future of grammar and spelling. I took the book home and started reading it, but somehow the story didn't suck me in the way the title had. I’ve decided I really LIKE the concept of the book and I will give it another try sometime in the near future.

Reviewed April 2011