Punctuation madness

I'm glad to know that I am not the only person in the world who recognizes the necessity for accuracy in writing, especially punctuation. A suggestion from my brother, Sam, I am now most interested in reading a No. 1 British bestseller called "Eats, Shoots and Leaves" by Lynne Truss. All readers of this blog and other punctuation sticklers are required to check it out:
http://www.eatsshootsandleaves.com. The basic thesis is taken from the panda joke, reprinted without permission here:

A panda walks into a cafe. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and fires two shots in the air.
"Why?" asks the confused waiter, as the panda makes towards the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder.
"I'm a panda," he says, at the door. "Look it up."
The waiter turns to the relevant entry and, sure enough, finds an explanation.
"Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves."

Don't get me wrong, I love punctuation and grammar. But I must voice my concern of the use (or in this case, lack of use) of the comma in lists of three objects or more. I was always taught growing up that one should include a comma before the "and" in any list, with an understanding that though it was "optional", it was highly recommended. For example, if I were to write, read, and sleep, I would include the comma after read. According to the Associated Press, children today are instructed to exclude the comma after read. I am thoroughly disappointed with this teaching because I have developed not only the habit of include said comma, but also an affinity for it. It looks nice and doesn't take that much more time to write it.

Here's the bottom line: this would make a wonderful Christmas gift or half-birthday present for me or anyone who loves the particulars in the English language.