How much would you pay for the opportunity to while away the long days of June, July and August with a yellow high-liter in your left-hand a blue one in your right and a pink one between your teeth? Five-hundred dollars? Six-hundred? Let's see how much I paid altogether, and why I thought it was worth it.
Planet Law School II, Atticus Falcon (Price: Free at Library): Besides boasting one of the best pseudonyms in history, Atticus Falcon has done a great job of scaring the hopes and dreams out of prospective law students. The dark picture he's painted of misanthropic professors doing their best to stifle the learning of idealistic students is really inspiring, if you're into that sort of thing. If your reaction to adversity is tears, I wouldn't recommend this book. However, if you're like me, you'll see this ferocious 800-page tome as a glove across the face. I couldn't rightly walk away from the challenge of Atticus Finch, and neither will you. Planet Law School also approaches a lot of practical matters like studying, test-taking and prep in a way you won't find in other, more popular books (Getting to Maybe, for instance). Even if all this book did was steer me towards Aspen's Examples and Explanations series, my time would not have been wasted.
Law 101: Everything You Need to Know About the American Legal System, Jay M. Feinman (Price: $18.48 new on Amazon.com): I wouldn't go so far as to agree with this book's overly ambitious title, but I do believe that it will teach you everything you need to know in order to be able to read other books that will teach you everything else you need to know (i.e. Aspen Primers). Law 101 was very readable and entertaining, and it contains a single chapter (written to mimic the socratic method) on every first year course we'll be taking. Get it.
The Law of Torts: Examples and Explanations, Civil Procedure: Examples and Explanations, Joseph W. Glannon (Price: $9.41 and $5.44 on Half.com): If you get these primers you will marvel at how quickly the law comes to you. I cannot say enough about how well these books are organized. They also quote liberally from the Restatements, and so do a good job of teaching you the blackletter law (which most law books and even law classes do not). I seperated these two from the other two in the series that I've purchased (I purchased one for every 1L class I'll be taking in the first semester), because Glannon is a particularly gifted writer when it comes to bestowing understanding on the uninitiated. I recommend all four, but consider these two essential.
Criminal Law: Examples and Explanations, John G. La Fond, Richard G. Singer (Price: $14.99 on Half.com): If I've heard any complaints about a book in the Aspen Primer series, it's been this one. I haven't started it yet, so I can't rightly say if it holds up to the genius of the first two, but I like the format so much I'm willing to give it a try. If anyone has a better recommendation for Crim Law primer, let me know,
Contracts: Examples and Explanations, Brian A. Blum (Price: $12.99): This appears to be very competently written, though I have yet to complete any chapters. I'll take this opportunity to advise that you buy all these primers used online, and not to worry about getting the most updated versions. Like most scholarly texts, new versions constantly come out with only minor revisions to justify squeezing the coin out of desperate students like us. The basic blackletter law behind these subjects has not changed much in the last decade.
Cardozo: A Study in Reputation, Richard A. Posner (Price: $15.20): As nice as it is to get a overview of the law, and to be handed court opinions distilled down to their historical significance, I thought it would be helpful to get a little in depth with at least one personality from the history of this country's judiciary. I chose Cardozo somewhat arbitrarily; when reading through Law 101 I found the few mentions of him interesting, and decided to become a minor expert on him. I suggest other prospective students do the same: pick a figure, any figure and familiarize yourself with his life, major decisions and significance. If Law School is anything like the lower levels of education it'll work out to our advantage. I remember when I was an English major I read everything by Dostoevsky and learned as much about him as possible, and because I knew so much about him I was able to find a way to tie him in to every paper and discussion (at least marginally). I think Cardozo is going to be my new Dosteovsky.
Alright, that brings my grand total of expenditures to... $76.51 I know some of you have spent much more than that on one textbook, so I don't think I've done too bad for myself. Those prices included shipping, and I probably could have saved some money by not buying new from Amazon.com if I wasn't in such a hurry to get them. If you're on a tighter budget, you might want to keep that in mind.
Obviously, this is a lot of reading, and I don't honestly think I'll be getting through it all. When school does start I'll post my progress to give a more realistic impression of how prepared I am.
Until then, happy studying!
2 comments:
Oh my. You read all of those books already? I was hoping this was going to be a post about how you had gotten all of those books and were just watching them, intently, waiting for the right moment at which to read. Like myself, only I haven't even gotten them yet (except for Law 101).
But that wasn't it at all. You reviewed them.
Damn. I didn't even read your entire post.
Well, if you did read the entire post, you'd know I didn't actually read them all. Though I may regret this later I'm not willing to entirely sacrifice my summer to finish these texts, and working full-time that's no doubt what I'd have to do. Still, I'm making progress, if ever so slowly.
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