I'm not a fan of Garner's Modern American Usage, his extremely conservative style guide, but this is an excellent book that surveys the history of legal usage and gives sensible reasons for his suggestions for future usage. There are also biographical essays, inteviews, book recommendations, and some very funny "Bizarreries." I'd recommend it to anyone with an interest in law and its language.

Garner on Language and Writing is quite a door-stop at 840 pages. I wasn’t sure whether to request it on Early Reviewers (as I am an editor in the UK rather than anything to do with the US legal profession) but it turns out that plenty of the articles are likely to be of interest to anyone (in the USA and beyond) who likes words and language with all its idiosyncrasies. As the subtitle indicates, the book is a collection of Bryan A. Garner’s Essays and Speeches, and most of the individual sections are anything from a page or two to about 20 pages. I haven’t read the whole book, but it is great to dip into and the author has a very approachable way of writing. So, definitely ‘a keeper’. ( )

Bryan Garner should need no introduction for those in the legal field: Since the mid-1980s, he has been writing books on grammar and usage, including The Elements of Legal Style and the Dictionary of Modern American Usage (later revised and reissued as Garner's Modern American Usage). His non-book works have now been compiled into this hefty volume (over 800 pages, about the size of -- but slightly lighter than -- a brick).

There's a broad assortment of topics covered, from style and composition to the nitty-gritty of word choices and grammatical rules. Garner's crisp writing never seems repetitive, even when his essays recycle some of the same points and same examples (see, e.g., his explanation that even Tiger Woods needs practice at 380, which then appears in a second essay at 382).

I was surprised that his chapters on "Writing in Law School" and "Writing in Practice" were so short (under twenty and twenty-five pages, respectively). Most of his Student Lawyer and ABA Journal articles had been used in earlier chapters. It would seem like a book that might be used as a textbook could try to expand those types of chapters.

And that's one of my few complaints about this book: What sort of audience is this title targeted to? There are not enough practical examples for it to be a true textbook, especially when his Modern American Usage or Redbook are better for that purpose. Busy attorneys trying to improve their writing skills will be completely overwhelmed by the bulkiness of the book. It's also an odd time to issue a "retrospective," as Garner is now in the prime of his career, with many more articles -- hopefully! -- yet to come.

However (another complaint: sometimes however works as a transition better than but), for those who plow through these essays -- or just dip into them from time to time -- there's a wealth of information about improving writing skills. It seems unlikely anyone could pick up this book and not learn something. I particularly liked the "choose the correct word" quizzes that law review editors got wrong; I might even modify his "legal terms for law students" article (which, sadly, doesn't include "interest," another term that is different in common usage and in legal usage) for our incoming first year classes.

Overall, this is a fabulous way to read some of the best writing from one of the legal world's best writers.

[Early Reviewer book] ( )

This book is a collection of Bryan A. Garner's best writing. In his introductory essay, Garner tells us about a speaking engagement where the person introducing him was told to keep the intro brief. The person was eloquently brief: "The less said about Bryan Garner, the better."

There is some truth to that statement.

As a writer, Garner may have the best writing skills of anyone in the legal profession. As a person, Garner has the need to point out the mistakes of others. One can blame Miss Phillips, his fourth-grade student teacher for that. She asked the class to name a contraction. Garner responded with "shan't." Miss Phillips told him that "shan't" wasn't a word. During recess, Garner lugged out Webster's Third New International Dictionary, and attempted to show Miss Phillips that "shan't" was a contraction for "shall not." Miss Phillips refused to look at the reference. In relating this incident, Garner wrote: "You might consider this whole book––and all my writing––a perverse, psychologically stultified attempt to get even with Miss Phillips."

The title of one of Garner's essays in this book is Finding the Right Words. I point this out because the contents of the book are primarily directed to the members of the legal profession. The title should have been Garner on Language and Legal Writing.

I slogged through over 700 pages of legal writing. But I must admit I gleaned a lesson or two from Garner. The rules of grammar he mentions here and there apply not only to the legal profession, but to all other walks of life as well.

I enjoyed reading Garner's chapters on Chronicles of Grammar, Usage and Writings for 2005, 2006 and 2007, and How I Stumbled on a Literary Treasure, specifically, Lindley Murray's copy of Johnson's Dictionary. In other chapters, he wrote moving words about his friend and mentor, the legendary Charles Alan Wright.

Garner included not-so-glowing reviews of Lynn Truss's Eats, Shoots & Leaves and Robert W. Burchfield's The New Fowler's Modern English Usage. One of Garner's book reviews really disturbed me: his review of Johnson on the English Language. The Yale Edition of the Works of Samuel Johnson, Vol. 18. Edited by Gwin J. Kolb and Robert DeMaria Jr. (New Haven: Yale University Press 2005).

In this review, Garner lambasts Yale for not including Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language in the Yale Edition of the Works of Samuel Johnson. I know of no edition of Johnson's Works, dating back to the 1700s, which contains Johnson's Dictionary. The Dictionary, as it should, stands alone, and requires no companions.

The editors of Johnson on the English Language, Robert DeMaria Jr. and Gwin J. Kolb, were two of the most prominent Johnsonian scholars in the world. But in his review, Garner minced no words in providing instances of their shoddy editing. Garner titled his review, Harmless Drudgery?

I don't know if Kolb was in poor health during the editing process, or if the editors were racing life's clock, but Gwin J. Kolb died on April 3, 2006. Less than a year after Kolb's death, Garner coldly wrote:
" What we have here is a marginally acceptable sixth draft of what should have been a ten-draft work."

Harmless drudgery? I think not. Let the man rest in peace for God's sake!

As a footnote, Johnson on the English Language received respectful reviews by the Johnsonian, O.M. Brack Jr., in the September 2006 issue of the Johnsonian News Letter and by the grammarian, Fred C. Robinson, in the Spring 2008 issue of the Sewanee Review.

As for Garner on Language and Writing, the book deserves more praise than I have given it. I shan't say the same about the author. Instead, I shall point out a glaring error of shoddy editing in his Introduction to Bouvier's Law Dictionary (p375):

"The book went through three editions during Bouvier's lifetime. After his death in 1851, his papers were mined to produce an important fourth edition, which appeared in 1852. This is a reprint of the seventh edition, published in 1857..."

Garner shouldn't throw stones.

What a fabulous book!

I love and collect books about English usage and history, but this one is unique. I was surprised to receive the envelope from the American Bar Association, as I had not picked it up as being targeted at legal writing. However as Bryan Garner says somewhere, law is traditionally an educated profession, and so the book is suitable for any person wishing to write in an educated manner. And yet, having challenged my expectations for a book on language by being about legal writing, it then challenged my expectations for a book on legal writing by being fun and funny. Just check out "octopus, octopi, octopodes" in the index, to see what I mean. There are extensive and useful lists of references and suggestions, and it is fun to think that I might have to write Mr Garner a note suggesting a couple of books he should look at, if not include in future editions.

It is also worth saying that I was strongly and delightfully reminded of the tone of Strunk and White in "The Elements of Style": both practical and American in character.

This book will be a pleasure to keep by the desk as a reference, and to rummage around in during a spare moment, for fun. I will be suggesting it to the school library where I volunteer as a reference work to acquire.