Commas: To Use or Not to Use

OK, a non-ideological post, but I hope a helpful one. I haven’t read the weekend LRC yet, so this is not meant as a response to any piece that appears today.

Correct:
Murray Rothbard’s book For a New Liberty made me think about the world differently.

Incorrect:
Murray Rothbard’s book, For a New Liberty, made me think about the world differently.

Those commas would belong there only if For a New Liberty had been Rothbard’s only book. Thus:

Correct:
My wife, Heather, and I attended the recital.

Incorrect (because it suggests I have more than one wife):
My wife Heather and I attended the recital.

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10:55 am on April 9, 2005