Studies in Functional Discourse Grammar Book

This book is most suitable for those completely new to syntax wishing a generative-ish introduction to the topic. The approach is original: as described circumstantially on the back flap of the tome, the textbook mainly introduces the learner to a new style of thinking about syntax and language in general.
However, if you already have an idea of what linguistics entails and its methods are, and maybe have some knowledge of any syntactic theory, this book might come across as a nuisance rather than a helpful guide. Its explanations are lengthy and, frankly, slightly uninformative. Overexplanations of even the simplest of concepts are repeated ad nauseam. After reading one hundred pages, one wonders what exactly one has learned - if one hasn't given up already, because reading those lengthy considerations is extremely time-consuming. The whole book could probably be summarised in less than twenty pages.
Read this if you're new to syntax and envisage a future at the more formalist end of the spectrum. Don't read this if you want an efficient and state-of-the-art intro to generative syntax.