Law Books

For around $30 this was a great and thorough product. It was really easy to use. I read the first two chapters and felt like I had the information I needed and was able to create the will I wanted (very basic) in about a 1/2 hour on the computer. The book and software cover all sorts of things much more complicated. I highly recommend the product!

Arrived quickly and in good condition. Still reading the book but it seems pretty straight forward and easy to use.

My husband and I have been putting off creating a will for years; but with the birth of our second child, we realized how important it was to have one to insure that our children would be cared for by the people we chose. WillMaker Plus was extremely easy and straightforward to use. The program utilizes a simple interview process where you go through a series of screens answering questions. In about 40 minutes, I had a will created for both my husband and myself. With a simple click, the software can create a duplicate of your will for your spouse and automatically swap the names where appropriate. I've highly recommended this product to my family and friends who just like me have been postponing creating or updating their own will and I will continue to recommend it to others.

My husband and I purchased our first home a year ago. We knew that it was important to put together a will, and we also wanted to draw up health care power of attorney documents. I called a bunch of lawyers to get an idea of how much these simple legal documents would cost, and I was blown away that the quotes ranged from $750 - $1,000. That seemed pretty ridiculous, especially considering the fact that my husband and I have no children, and therefore our documents would be pretty straightforward. I did a lot of research and determined that do-it-yourself will programs are just as legal as documents drawn up by a money-sucking lawyer, as long as the documents are filled out correctly and properly witnessed. Quicken Willmaker Plus has received rave reviews from consumers, media critics, and even attorneys, so I decided to try it. I can't tell you how pleased I am with this purchase. The software is easy to install and understand, and we had all our important documents created in no time at all. The Willmaker software also comes with a companion book that delves more into the legal terminology and requirements in a way that's very interesting and also easy for people to understand. It's easy to store these documents, create identical wills for your spouse, and make any updates as needed. I highly recommend this product to everyone, especially those people with relatively simple estate planning needs. (If you have kids, you may need to go to one of those greedy lawyers after all just to make absolutely sure your children will be taken care of.) Not only is this a quality product, but it also saved me about $970! What more could you possibly ask for?

I recently purchased this to upgrade my will and had all the usual worries about the makers screwing up a good product. I am happy to say that it's as easy to use as the one I am replacing. You never get swamped with legalese and if you have a question it is easily answered. A great buy for peace of mind.

Not really sure how to review this, but it is necessary for those of us who want to stay compliant and up to date with building regulations. It isn't necessarily easy to read, but like I said, it is what it is. :)

This book provides me with all the information I need to do both residental and commercial building in the United States. Most states use most of the IBC with some amendments, which can be found on the state websites. Allows us to do business with ease.

Oh, this is good stuff! You know you hate to use these darned things, but if you're into any kind of commercial construction - you gotta have 'em!

My son needed this for one of his college architecture classes. This was the cheapest site and had really fast shipment.

Es un producto de valor inigualable para los que nos dedicamos al diseño de estructuras

In my studies for the LSAT, I found these great prep-tests - they are real former LSAT tests (without the experimental section). They helped in my preparation for the real thing. Now I'm just waiting to get my score!

LSATs are hard!!!!! This book was great to practice with. I wrote all over it and really feel that I have a greater understanding of what is expected of me. There is only one full test in this booklet and for me, it is much better than having 10 or more practice tests in one book. I really liked this format and this booklet and I look forward to getting another and another to practice with.

I'm usually concerned about purchasing items online, especially books. However, I can honestly say that this shopping experience was wonderful. I would definetly recommend anyone interested in shopping for books to check this seller out.

Most of the stuff just summarizes points from Strunk and White.
The practice exercises are really what's helpful.
Also a good reference when editing.

I'm a lawyer who is considered a wordsmith by colleagues and judges. This is one of the most important books I've ever encountered. I was exposed to it in my first law school year's writing class, and its lessons have remained with me since. Banish the passive voice! (unless deliberately and thoughfully chosen and used). This is not merely a key to fluidity in writing, but in a sense a moral imperative. Actions are attributable to actors - they don't simply occur. If you're asserting an action took place, you and your reader should know who or what you claim set it in motion. This necessitates intellectual rigor and clarity. Also, I remember and have employed for twenty-five years Wydick's apt metaphor that good legal writing is like fine cabinetmaking: the skill of the craftsman is shown by the crafted joints not requiring glue, just as the quality of a piece of prose is shown by its lack of reliance on "glue words" (read the book). I've used the lessons of Wydick's brief book as a lawyer, writer and writing teacher. I've given it to colleagues, non-lawyers and young relatives. Their writing uniformly improved.

This book advocates the use of a Procrustean bed to turn every kind of writing, good and bad, into mediocre but understandeable prose. The advice offered ranges from avoiding use of the passive voice, to reducing the word count of sentences, avoiding double negatives, using shorter words (i.e., using Germanic roots over Latin roots, say, "begin" over "initiate"), etc. Incidentally, all these techniques were used in Orwell's 1984's "Newspeak" if I remember correctly. I have no doubt many people will benefit from the treatment - just not the kind of people who should do much writing. It's not that overwrought writing does not get in the way of effective communication (a double negative!). It's just that good writing can (and should) be achieved by hard work and practice, and not by the shortcut of dumbing down one's style.

This is a simple text reminding us simply how to write. Often we fail to communicate our message because we lack clarity in our writing. The mark of a genius is to take a complicated idea and communicate it to another in a simple manner: this text helps us act like geniuses. The target audience is the legal profession yet it is applicable to anyone who writes memos, briefs or such. It provides clear instruction, concise and illuminating examples and exercises. I found this useful when writing my thesis and continue to use it in practice. Please, buy this, read it and SHARE it: I hate reading legalise for the sake of legalise.

The ten laws are:

1. REDUCE - The simplest way to achieve simplicity is through thoughtful reduction
2. ORGANIZE - Organization makes a system of many appear fewer.
3. TIME - Savings in time feel like simplicity.
4. LEARN - Knowledge makes everything simpler.
5. DIFFERENCES - Simplicity and complexity need each other.
6. CONTEXT - What lies in the periphery of simplicity is definitely not peripheral.
7. EMOTION - More emotions are better than less.
8. TRUST - In Simplicity we trust.
9. FAILURE - Some things can never be made simple.
10. THE ONE - Simplicity is about subtracting the obvious, and adding the meaningful.

There's a profound statement hidden on page 70: "While great art makes you wonder, great design makes things clear." So well put. The author is a graphic designer, but I think this thought applies to product design, and even process design.

The poet William Wordsworth once wrote, "The world is too much with us." If this was true in the bucolic 18th and 19th centuries when Wordsworth lived, it is even more true today, when every gadget comes with an incomprehensible 100-page instruction manual. Thus, simplifying people's lives with your products and services is a surefire path to business success; it will endear you to your customers forever. In this aphoristic little book, graphic designer John Maeda has distilled all he knows about simplicity into 10 laws and three key ideas. He sprinkles mnemonics, icons and graphics throughout, which you may enjoy if you're a visual learner or find baffling if you're not. If you really like the icons, you can download them from the Web site Maeda put together to complement the book. getAbstract recommends this work particularly to marketing people, product designers and technical writers. Maybe some day your mother won't have to call you every time she wants to record Jeopardy.

If you manage your expectations, this little book can be pleasant, even delightful. But if your interest is for more serious, robust exploration, then look elsewhere.

The title is a bit misleading. The term "Laws" suggest principles that can be universally applied and have been rigorously tested. This book is really more of a set of loosely connected essays about design approaches. The insights are often good, and perhaps helpful, but "laws" they are not. A title like "Reflections on Simplicity in Design" would have been more accurate, and I would have awarded a fourth star if it had been titled more appropriately.

This is really more of a short philosophy book about design, rather than a treatise offering Newtonian-scale laws. But that criticism now made, can this little book be inspiring? Sure.
Is the book overwrought and under-thought? A little.
Does it offer deep exploration? Not really.
Is "Simplicity" a good introduction to the notion of simplicity in design? Yes, up to a point.

One reviewer lamented that "Simplicity" has about the same depth as a dinner conversation. I agree, although that's no reason to think that level of depth is pointless. If it inspires and offers fresh perspectives on old problems, then that can have it's own value. And that's what "Simplicity" offers, but not much more.

Just don't pin your hopes on this offering fundamental design principles; instead use it as a loose collection of design approaches (supported only by brief anecdotes). I'd give it 3.5 starts if I could, the half star being awarded for brevity (but not laws or simplicity itself).

The best thing about this book is that it stayed SIMPLE.

It is a quick read, and a good reference source for anyone in the field of design.

Almost immediately after I began to read this book, I was reminded of two quotations, the first from Oliver Wendell Holmes: "I do not care a fig for simplicity this side of complexity but I would give my life for the other side of complexity." Also from Albert Einstein: "Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler." Further along into John Maeda's discussion of each of the ten "laws" and his explanation of why he thinks that "simplicity = sanity," I was reminded of this passage from William Butler Yeats' "The Second Coming":

"Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity."

Holmes was right, acknowledging how difficult it is to proceed through complexity to simplicity. In fact, I view complexity in that context as a crucible. More specifically, as container into which alchemists once placed raw materials and subjected them to intense heat, hoping to produce a pure and precious metal, perhaps gold. Like the falcon in Yeats's poem, the human mind circles high above more than it can possibly absorb and process, then make sense of. This is what William Wordsworth suggests in "The World Is Too Much with Us":

"The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!"

And this is why Maeda believes that "simplicity = sanity." In a world that seems to become more complex each day, his on-going journey of discovery he realized how complex a topic simplicity really is, "and I don't pretend to have solved the puzzle...[and] am inspired to grapple with this puzzle many more years...Like all man-made `laws' [mine] do not exist in the absolute sense - to break them is no sin. However you may find them useful in your own search for simplicity (and sanity) in design, technology, business, and life."

It would be a disservice to Maeda as well as to those who read this review to list the ten "Laws." They are best revealed in context, within the frame-of-reference he creates for each. The same is true of the three "Keys to achieving simplicity in the technology domain" with which Maeda concludes his narrative. "Rarely do I have answers, but instead I have a lot of questions just like you." I am amazed by how much material he provides within only 100 pages. Additional resources can be obtained (at no cost) by visiting lawsofsimplicity.com.

It is worth noting that when Maeda "set out with youthful zeal to attack the simplicity question, [he] felt that complexity was destroying our world and had to be stopped!" Presumably others have experienced the same frustrations I have encountered when struggling to understand the directions provided in an operations manual or terms and conditions of a service warranty or when struggling to obtain assistance from a customer service representative who speaks slowly enough and clearly enough to be understood. Why does it have to be so (bleeping) complicated? After speaking at a conference, Maeda was approached by a 73-year old artist who took him aside and said, "The world's [begin italics] always [end italics] been falling apart. So relax." Maeda suggests that his reader take the same advice "and try to LEAN BACK while you read this book, if you can."

John Maeda may not get you to the "other side of complexity" but he can help you to preserve your sanity meanwhile. If that isn't a value-added benefit, I don't know what one is.

This is being used as a text for a graduate level class. It is enjoyable to read, interesting, lucid, and well organized. The index and glossary are well structured. The authors make excellent use of bold text within the material and have plenty of helpful sidebar notes.

Great Book. Better than the other Legal Business books. Great cases. Easy to read and understand. Great for Business law. Other books are more about law instead of business law, Not this book. You be the Judge DVD-Rom is great similation of legal business situations. Book is great for learning Business Law.

This was the textbook for an introductory course in business law I took. It does a great job at laying the groundwork of the US legal system and explodes many common myths. A large amount of material is covered clearly and consisely. The chapters on contracts and constitutional law alone are worth the price of the book. The authors do a good job hitting the high points and not getting bogged down in details that are inappropriate for an introductory course.

There are a few typographical errors that carried over to the thirteenth edition and ought to have been caught. Because this is a survey course, the reader may find supplemental material such as a law dictionary necessary to understand some of the finer points.

Like many Americans, I didn't know much about our country's principles of government or its legal system. This book helped me to become more knowledgeable about both. I admit, this is not reading I would choose to curl up with in front of the fire; this was part of a requirement for my MBA. However, I will remember what I've learned in this text long after my class ends. Having previously been clueless about the legal system, it is now exhilarating to read about, say, how the nine US Supreme Court Justices are dealing with the aftermath of the Gore vs. Bush debacle and actually understand what is going on. The chapters are well-organized and easy to understand. There are even helpful study tips and ways to brief a legal case in the beginning of the text. After completing this book, I not only feel better equipped to handle business decisions, but also feel empowered and enlightened for better understanding our great country.

The 4 chants taught in the book are the keys to maintaining a peaceful consciousness that is very difficult to achieve in this world of noise and chaos. Once you get into the habit of chanting the Zero Limit keys, it gets easier to manage your life and takes less and less time to get into zero state which is the God state, or your moving into your center state. Try it. There's nothing to lose by learning something new.

This book's focus is love, forgiveness, taking responsibility for your life, and living in the present rather than hanging onto regret and recrimination. Most spiritual approaches share these beliefs and the book presents little that is new, except its aloha twist. Author Joe Vitale brings in the Hawaiian perspective of his co-author, Ihaleakala Hew Len, a Hawaiian therapist and Ph.D., who advocates the "//ho'oponopono//" method. The authors' emphasis on cleansing and love is a lot like the repentance and love of Christianity, and the emphasis on the universe existing only in your mind has a neo-Buddhist flavor. Skeptics may find that the recommendation to make a batch of special cleansing water pushes their envelope one notch too far. A larger stumbling block is that although many spiritual leaders teach the emptiness of pursuing money and material wealth, this book makes wealth a goal, and suggests that you can receive riches by ridding yourself of blocked memories. To talk of spirituality as the source of record-breaking sales of luxury sedans seems somewhat self-contradictory, but the book is otherwise straight new-age self-help, though// getAbstract// appreciates its Hawaiian flavor.

Zero Limits-Read it, study it, practice it daily and change your life forever! May you experience Peace beyond all understanding!

After finishing this book I felt that I received little from it . . not enough meaningful content. I did feel however like Joe was pitching many other products in this book that he has a financial interest in. Knowning what I know now I wouldn't bother reading this book. This bookt didn't even rate a space on my library shelves.

I like parts of this a lot but didn't rate it well because it has little substance. In the very beginning he admits that this book doesn't teach Ho'oponopono and tells you if you want to learn Ho'oponopono go to one of the weekend workshops.


Things I like:

* Uplifting, he knows how to motivate his target audience.
* Gives the stories of others who have used this method successfully.
* Although the focus of this book is money it also shows that this technique can be utilized for anything and everything.

Things I didn't like:

* It felt like work to get to past the infomercials and self aggrandizement. The majority of people on the tape that told their stories were also plugging their products, I wonder if they had to pay for their spot in this book?
* This LONG book only gives you a brief over view of the idea but it's not even an elementary level primer on Ho'oponopono.

* A HUGE concern is that he admits that this technique made him realize that what he taught in previous books was wrong or obsolete.

He says he felt deep concern and guilt because he has taught the wrong information. This was followed by the explanation that the other books can help people at lower levels of understanding. I totally agree with that but if he ACTUALLY believes this and isn't simply making excuses to continue selling & teaching incorrect information then why does he constantly plug those books in this one.

If we're ready for the information that truly works then why try to interest us in information that he acknowledges is WRONG? This is a red flag.

I bought this book from Amazon recently, they have been great about getting it resolved but from what we can tell after having replaced twice the serial number that they mention on the book is not included in any of the books Amazon has in stock.

The 5th Edition of "Business Law Today, The Essentials" is a slightly pared down, paper-bound version of the authors' hard back college text "Business Law Today, - Text and Summarized Cases, Legal, Ethical, Regulatory and International Environment."

SUMMARY. The book fills the bill as a "Readers Digest" reference work on general legal principles. But, it is too broad in its treatment to be a reliable resource for comprehensive instructional purposes.

BASIS. This reviewer is an attorney with over 25 years experience teaching business law. The writer uses the 5th edition of this work, and used the 2d, 3d and 4th editions of the text, as a required instructional resource in accordance with directions from academic administrators.

POSITIVE ASPECTS.

- The 5th edition of "Business Law Today, The Essentials" is well written and very readable. The presentation is visually attractive.

- It includes new material on the up-to-date issues created by e-commerce and cyber law.

- There are excellent chapter summaries highlighting, in outline form, the major topics covered in the chapter.

- There are numerous marginal references to Web sites and sources for additional help and information.

CONCERNS.

- Content appears to have been sacrificed for aesthetic white space & wide margins. This has been a continuing trend. With each "new edition" there has been less and less textual material. Major legal concepts are given a short treatment of only a sentence or two. However, the interesting and provocative discussion questions at the end of the chapters raise issues which, if they have been addressed by the courts, cannot be correctly resolved based on the information in the text. The result is students have a misconception as to how a principle works or how the majority of courts might rule. When missing information is added by the instructor, student reaction is frustration and distrust of the text.

-Whole concepts have been deleted from text between editions.(Although, thankfully, the topic of usury, a major concept in business law which was totally deleted from the 4th edition, is again mentioned in the 5th edition.)

- Case examples too often tend to focus on the more colorful, unusual exception to a controlling legal principle, rather than explaining the rationale for the majority rule or demonstrating how a principle works in daily business situations. The result is often student confusion, since one does not learn a general principle where the only example of the its application is an exceptional situation where the general rule is not apply.

- Support materials and test bank answers to questions are unreliable. While the answers given in the test bank are legally correct, about 10-15% of the time it is reported the correct answer to a test bank question cannot be extracted from the textual explanation on the cited page in "The Essentials" edition of the text.

This is the best textbook I have found for my introduction to building codes course. The study guide makes it an indispensable tool for teaching the basics and the complexities of modern building codes.

Could studying building codes actually be fun? Much to my surprise, when you combine this book with the companion study guide workbook it is. The author presents the information on the codes clearly and in logical order. I am studying for my NCIDQ exam and was really nervous about the "codes questions" until I got this book.

I own each of the 3 editions of this book, and have found the information to be a well source of sound, practical advise concerning the application of codes as they relate to interior projects. I am an Interior Designer and I refer to my copy of Codes Guidebook for Interiors regularly for projects I am involved in. This book and the companion study guide are part of the recommended resources for studying and preparing for the NCIDQ examination. I believe this book should be a part of every commercial practitioners library, whether they be an architect or interior designer.

Good for interior design students- must have this book to understand how to comply with todays' design laws.

I am a registered architect, and purchased this book for the purpose of studying for the NCIDQ interior design licensing exam. I had no idea how clearly, simply, and comprehensively it would cover the IBC code (and some others). I'm sure it will be an asset for my NCIDQ preparation, but even more so, I have been able to reference it for my architecture practice.

GREAT BOOK!

Book was fine, a little worse than they described but I don't mind the highlighting and writing inside so its fine.

Content
The editing sucks. The notes suck. The case selection sucks.

Construction
This book shares the same physical problems that all Aspen casebooks suffer. The binding sucks. The book will not lay flat; the hump in the pages makes it hard to read, damn near impossible to underline. The paper is too thin, print shows through not only from the other side of the page, but from other pages below. The paper is an icky off white. The font is funky with awkward leading and hard to read. The margins are non-existent. Forget about writing in the book. The cover is cheaply made and wears poorly.

Compare to a University Casebook Series book which lies flatter, has wide margins, easy to read font and page layout, nice white paper, and excellent build quality.

UPDATE: By the end of the semester, no one in my class of over 60 was still reading this book. Don't waste your money buying, even if its assigned. Don't use this awful book.

Con law students, if you're assigned this awful book, here's what to do. Wikipedia has awesome summaries on con law cases, such as "Lochner v. New York" and "Roe v. Wade," and con law topics, such as "incorporation" and "substantive due process." Don't use this book. First, read wikipedia, then use what ever supplement is assigned or that you like (I liked Understanding Constitution Law from Lexis, but most students in my class liked the assigned Constitutional Law by Chemerinsky). If need be, you can look up a case on Lexis or Westlaw, and with the headnotes, jump to the relevant portion of the case. You don't need this book, and even if you buy it, after a couple of weeks you'll stop reading it.

Truly one of the worst law school books I've used so far. Everything the other (negative reviews) said was true. The author doesn't use footnotes, captions, endnotes, or offset text. No it is all just thrown together in one huge block of text on the page. The reading is nothing more than wading thru a morass of text which actually has no real bearing on the cases presented and doesn't add anything constructive to the understanding of the nuances of the case. horrible writing. Horrible editing. This book would be 1000% better if all supporting text was removed and nothing more than the bare cases were presented.

If you are a professor, don't use this book.
If you are a student, buy casenotes and only read the cases from this book.

If you are buying this, I assume you are buying because you have to for class. In that case you will likely have noticed that the current edition is vastly more expensive and came out only 2 years after this edition. How much could the law change in 2 years? Is it false economy to scrimp on the books when you are paying through the teeth for law school already?

Here I attempt to answer these questions.

I used this edition of the book rather than the 2005 edition for both Con Law 1 and 2. The changes from this edition to the newer one were minor. In Con Law 1, I had to pull two new cases off FindLaw and only had to pull one new case for Con Law 2. Other than that the books were similar and most assigned readings were word for word the same between editions.

An added bonus was that the professors for both classes have been teaching the subject for years, and in the three sections that were significantly different both tended to teach focused on the older edition. In one class, the previous edition had an older case which had been replaced by the Gore Bush election recount case (an added case). The older case had been shortened to a note, but the professor elaborated on it. Not only was I not lost for using the older book - I had an edge.

I highly recommend economizing by buying the older book in this case. Constitutional law does not change frequently, and this did not disadvantage me. And to quell any doubts, I scored in the top third for both classes.

I've had cause to study this book a little for a course in Constitutional Problems at the University of Western Australia. Inevitably - while my requirements cannot be as detailed or exhaustive as that of my American friends, I found it a useful guide to the major cases and enjoyed the historical references. I particularly enjoyed the Race and the Constitution (equality and 14th amendment stuff) chapter and the dicussion of the case law preceding Brown v. Board of Education.