Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D.

My friend Jeff and I have just embarked on a 1.3-year journey. We began reading Garner's Modern American Usage, 3d ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009) at the rate of two pages per day. On 12 May 2003, six months before I started blogging, I finished reading the first edition of this work (entitled A Dictionary of Modern American Usage). It took me a little over a year to read that edition, since it was shorter (749 pages, as opposed to 1,002 in the third edition). Garner, a lawyer, is without a doubt the world's foremost expert on the English language. He is never overbearing, so it's a pleasure to learn from him. I have warned Jeff not to get off track. The two pages must be read every day, without fail. If you would like to read along with us, acquire the book immediately and ask me, when it arrives, where we are. I guarantee that you will return from the journey a different person—a more literate person.