Law Books

The subject matter of the book is the impact of the conservative agenda on the Supreme Court. The death of Chief Justice Rehnquist is covered in the Prologue. The Warren Court had transformed the entire legal culture.

By 1991 and the appointment of Clarence Thomas the conservatives had made remarkable progress. Thomas is a philosophical heir to Booker T. Washington. Chief Justice Rehnquist used a line from IOLANTHE regarding his conduct during the Clinton impeachment trial that he did nothing in particular and he did it very well.

Near the end of the Clinton years the conservative judicial revolution was sputtering. The Bush v. Gore opinion amounted to a catalogue of the Court's worst flaws as judges, the author asserts. The argument is supported by Toobin's description of the procedures followed and the atmosphere of the Court in December 2000.

Subsequently, the Court became more liberal as evidenced by Lawrence v. Texas and other decisions. Justices Breyer and Kennedy, in reaching for solutions to the Court's cases, sometimes emulated foreign models.

Justice O'Connor saw in the Schiavo case a threat to judicial independence. After Justice O'Connor left the Court, Justice Kennedy's position became critical to the case outcomes of the Court. In the Roberts Court, dissenting justices wondered what had happened to the doctrine of stare decisis.

This excellent book concludes with a focus on the primacy of ideological differences. The text throughout is able and interesting.

A legal analyst with CNN News and a graduate of Harvard, Jeffrey Toobin brings forth an account and supberb evaluation of how he sees the Supreme Court at present which has resulted in his individual interviews with these justices.
The election of 2008 for a new President might very well change the status of our Judicial System. It is important to keep in mind that all members of the Supreme Court, the highest body in the United States, are appointed by the current President and confirmed by the Senate. In addition, the President selects individuals who share his idealogical views.
I recommend Mr. Toobin's "The Nine" to those who are interested in law and politics and what the Supreme Court is today.

I liked this book a lot, it concerns the Supreme Court personalities and impacts from the mid Eighties to 2006, though the bulk of the book concentrates on the Clinton/Bush era. I read it after Woodward's `the Brethren', which deals with the years 1968-73. The tenures of the justices are so long, that this book is almost a continuation. The processes of picking and adjudicating cases are the same as described in the Brethren, as is the processes by which majorities opinions are shaped and preserved. However Chief Justice Rhenquist seems to have taken pride in the running a far more efficient process than his predecessor. One key difference seems to be that there is a more explicit process of caballing to ensure that a particular opinion becomes the majority, though still informal, it seems to be a more acknowledged behaviour than in the early 1970s.
The book's main focus is the political impact of the decisions taken - particularly on the `culture wars', and the more focused approach (particularly among Republicans) on getting candidates selected and approved who will take a conservative line.
The Rhenquist court, despite having 8 of 9 justices who were appointed by Republican presidents, was a disappointment to conservatives who wished to reverse the `liberal' trend of its predecessor courts. However, due in part to Rhenquist's focus on efficiency rather than philosophy and the peculiarly individualistic natures of Justice Scalia and Thomas, the courts opinions were influenced by those of Justice O'Connor; whose views were decidedly middle-of-the road - not against restricting abortion, but ensuring that the mother's health was given paramount consideration; not against school prayer as long as it wasn't promoted by school authorities; not in favour of forced integration, but in favour of desegration; not in favour of gay practice, but an upholder of rights to privacy, incorporating sexual orientation
The book is quite good on giving pen portraits of the character and concerns of each of the justices, and shows what a varied bunch they are. It is particularly good at demonstrating how the work, and its associated experiences, have changed Justices O'Connor, Stevens and Kennedy, while leaving Justices Souter, Scalia and Thomas almost unchanged. It's most telling impression on me was that both the Clinton (Ginsburg and Breyer) and Bush (Jnr) appointees (Roberts and Alito) were much more heavily scrutinised and their subsequent opinions were much more predictable, than previous appointees - Stevens,O'Connor and Souter were viewed a `squelches' by conservatives, appointed by Ford, Regan and Bush (Snr) respectively, they were viewed as having veered `leftward' upon appointment.
I particularly enjoyed the descriptions of the political machinations around the appointment process of new justices, from Bork onwards. Bush Snr's approach seemed detached, Clinton's haphazard and chaotic approach, while Bush Jnr's was focused and ruthless, but also impersonal, in the sense that it seemed run by a selection team rather than a personal priority.
The book is best on the processes by which Bush vs. Gore was decided. Toobin is of the view that the Court shamed itself on this. I found this argument convincing, it seems the court intervened early, and the Justices took pre-determined positions, in short became too political. However there is also an argument that if the Court was to decide on a vote, then it had to do so, rather than let the re-counts and re-runs continue until chaos ensued. However, given the Republican appointed majority and the partisan process by which the court was invited to decide the case, I think I agree with Toobin that it was this Courts least fine hour, and indeed tainted this set of Justices in relations to their predecessors.

I felt that this book took more of a gossip description of the justices--who likes eachother, who tried to set up eachother on dates, who hated eachother. That could have been fine as an addendum but I wanted more meat on the issues and how each jusitce came to form their opinion and their stand.

If you've ever wanted to know what happens in the cloistered world of the Supreme Court, this book will give you a brief glimpse. It details not just the kinds of cases that the Supreme Court has heard over the last 30 years, but also what kind of people the Supreme Court Justices are and where they came from. Others have suggested there's a bias in this book, but I fail to see it. If the author spends a great deal of time talking about what conservatives were up to in filling the current nine seats, it's only because the last 30 years have been dominated by conservative presidents attempting to satisfy their conservative base. Anyway I found this book quite eye opening, and I hope anyone who is interested in how the Supreme Court works will give it a read.

This item along with the Powerscore Logic Games Bible are must haves for LSAT study! I wish I would've spent more time on this book though. I took the June 2008 LSAT and receieved a 153. My logic games section was my best with 21/23 correct. I know that if I study this book more that I could definitely improve my score, which I plan on doing this upcoming October 4 LSAT! I've already pre-ordered the Powerscore Reading Comprehension Bible which will ship on Sept. 4 from Powerscore's website because that's by far my weakest section. If it's anything like the other books then it should be a big help!

This is the best book written on the subject of LR ever! This guy have put more thought into this subject than any other author on the market. I highly recommend this book and the logic bible for prepping for the LSAT. Skip the expensive LSAT companies like TESTMASTERS, Kaplan and PR, this book is way more comprehensive and so much cheaper than paying over $1000 dollars for the classes. I had to go over the book twice just to absorb all the information given in the book.

this seller is awesome! the product arrived in impeccable condition! i am extremely satisfied!

This was the first book that gave me the breakdown of each type of logic reasoning problem set. It allows you to understand the type of logic reasoning/question being presented so that you may immediately begin to eliminate certain answers. This analysis will in other instances, let know what answer to look for based on the type of logic reasoning and/or question.

For those of you looking for known shortcuts to understanding question types, then this book is for you. This is how I have come to do well, by knowing the shortcuts and secrets that would normally take a team of people to create.

If you have a natural gift for distinguishing types of questions already, then you may find this book tedious and over detailed.

50% of your score on the LSAT is tied to Logical Reasoning. You may think you are hot on this subject, but everyone can benefit, and should benefit, from detailed study on the subject. Logical Reasoning should be where you make up for points lost in the Logic Games. This book, with real LSAT examples (not imitations) will help you do this with well-expressed strategies to check your answers and to eliminate wrong answers - that means you SAVE TIME! Pay a little extra for this if you are serious about Law School. As for a Kaplan book? I got suckered into it over this book, at first. The comparison? Take your Kaplan book and use it as a coaster or kindling in the fireplace. Kaplan is useless.

I'm usually concerned about purchasing items on line, especially books. I can honestly say that this experience was worth it. I would recommend this seller to anyone interested in purchasing good quality books at extremely reasonable prices.

Buy with confidence, I did!

This book is an absolute must for law students or anyone engaging in the process of legal research and writing. I am first year law student and this book is my go-to for any question I have about the research process. This book was recommended for my course, but not required. So many law students only buy the required books. Some feel the supplemental material is just a waste of money. Don't make that mistake with this book, you can use it throughout your career.

I'm a paralegal student at a California State University and we used this textbook for our legal research class. This book provided virtually *no* actual information as to *how* to conduct legal research. It provided knowledge of the theory of research, and had an acceptable explanation of primary/secondary and mandatory/persuasive authority, but that's about it.

The only reason why I came out of that class with any understanding of legal research was going to the local law library and having the librarians help me through it (and they were incredibly patient, helpful, and understanding).

If you are in a class that uses this textbook, God help you. You will benefit far more by speaking to other students who might know about research, or just going into a law library and asking for help there.

I've used this book for the past few months and have been pleasantly surprised by how well it is organized, and how easy it is to understand. The author writes in a clear, straightforward manner and covers all of the pertinant topics.

Interpretation of codes sometime is confusing. With the picture to explain, it is much easier to understand than just read the words. A picture is better than a thousand words!

This is an excellent book. It makes it very easy to understand many of the issues addressed by the IBC. In a few minutes of flipping through the pages right after I received it I was able to clearly understand issues that I previously had to read over and over again in the code to try to understand. Any time I have a code issue now I first read the code and then look at the same item in this book to see if my interpretation is correct.

Ching always does a good job of clearly illustrating aspects of design and construction, but in this case the book lacks depth. Only the most basic codes are included and it is of little or no help for the building professional.

This book does an outstanding job of explaining how to use the building code, what the code means, and the basis for some codes. If you are an engineer, architect, or someone who just wants to better understand the building code, this book is for you.

This is great if you just want a general view of UBC and IBC codes.
But, it constantly refers to the IBC for the specifics.
But overall, is a Building Codes for Dummies!!!

I see myself and just about everyone I know in this book. It is a good read, interesting, insightful and has a lot of exercises to help understand what's going on in your life and how you can change the things that feel wrong. Martha Beck is just plain wonderful!

Finding Your Own North Star: Claiming the Life You Were Meant to Liveis a life changing book. Beck's examples are all ones we can relate to no matter where we are in life.

Her humor and intelligence amaze me with every book I read of hers. I'm a big fan. This is a timely book for me as I try to sell my business, raise 2 young boys and figure out my next career move. I share the main points of this book with all of my friends. There is a reason why Oprah publishes her work every month in her magazine. Martha Beck speaks to me a lot in this book and I am listening.

This product was shipped and was in excellent condition. Would do business again and recommend highly.

I am in the process of working with a professional coach and she recommended this book. I have found it to be very helpful in guiding me to deeply reflect on what I REALLY want as opposed to what I think I should want. Martha Beck is very funny. She provides exercises to stimulate thinking and move forward. Hooray!

first off i want to thank malcolm x for his thoughts on race after visiting mecca.he saw that persons of all races got together to worship and were colorblind.i will see this man in heaven he saw past racism in america to be a great christian!also i would like to give a big F to public schools in america for not teaching everything about slavery and who was involved,for example it wasn't until i went to college to major in history that i learned the truth about slavery.the white man didn't just go to africa with a big gun and round up black people as slaves,they established trade with the local tribes who traded goods with tribal leaders who had their own slaves as spoils of war and traded them with the white man as just another trade good so the tribes that traded were africans tradeing off other africans to the white's.try to find this in high school history or elementary school history,not likely.it is true that some white slave owners treated slaves horribly and i'm sure african tribes even treated some of their slaves horribly also.wrong is wrong no matter what your skin looks like!slavery is wrong!racism is wrong!!!!! ! ! "everyone" should be able to live free and should be able to worship freely and have pride in their people without being called racist! i'm guilty of being white, i love my race,does this make me a racist! no i don't think so. LOVE,RED

I read this book along time ago and still retain alot of what I learned from it. There is no beating around the bush in this from the beginning he tells of his life as it happened. He tells of an early career in crime to his time in prison and he does not attempt to sugarcoat anything. He does explain his reasoning for having done what he had done in his youth, but he does not claim to be innocent.
He did manage to find a better way to fight his enemies during his incarceration, and anyone who has ever seen any footage of Malcolm X will understand what I mean. The man was a very acticulate and confrontational speaker. He was the spark that ignited the engine of the civil rights movement in many respects. The civil rights movement began as far back as pre-civil war and was slow to develop with minor progress for each generation. Malcolm was the man brave enough to say enough and to make his voice heard over the many voices of the nation that tried to rise over him.
Here is a man that took it upon himself to correct a society that had become accepting of the crimes of their ancestors and simply ignored them. It is only a stonesthrow back in time if you think about it and yet it is painful to imagine people could be so cruel.
I recommend this to anyone who hasn't read it as it is an excellent book and is a document of the life of a man who managed to play a pivotal role in changing the way America viewed itself.

Despite the dispiriting revelation that this book was almost totally written by Alex Haley, "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" remains one of my favorite books. Which is a little strange, since his well-known struggles with civil rights, the police, Black identity, and Islam have little or no relevance to my life. Sorry.

The part of this book that affects me most deeply is where Malcolm is in prison educating himself, studying on the floor of his cell in the dim night light. I can't think of another tale about the birth of an autodidact and the rewards of reading that is as uplifting and memorable as Malcolm's. I first read this book about twenty years ago, and that's the part that always sticks with me: the power of books to change your life, regardless of who you are or what you've done. And much of the rest sticks with me too, for example the poignant case of "West Indian Archie."

I would like to advise, however, that you buy this edition: Autobiography of Malcolm X (Penguin Modern Classics), rather than the Ballantine edition, as the binding on the latter has proven unreliable, to say the least. I have gone through three different copies of the Ballantine edition of Malcolm X and the binding has fallen apart on all three of them -- to the point where the covers have come completely off, even though I don't really mistreat books. It can't just be bad luck.

Malcolm X was said to have been a formidable debater, yet it's curious to me that none of his opponents ever made the obvious, unanswerable point: that whatever crimes and horrors the West can be charged with vis-à-vis the African slave trade, those of Islam have been even more extensive and blood-soaked. They go back a lot further, and continued a lot later. In fact, it was only two years previous to Malcolm's making his Hajj to Mecca (1964) that slavery was made illegal in Saudi Arabia!

Hence jettisoning Christianity and Western culture for the supposed moral high ground of Islam was, when you think about it, a dingy move on Malcolm's part. Yet it is, unfortunately, the entirety of his position.

But you'll find this book a cracking good read nonetheless.

An excellent unflinching book about Malcolm X read for my "Understanding Religious Traditions in Multicultural America" last spring. While at times unnerving to read due to its stark honesty, it was very illuminating. As a non-American, it really helped give me further insight into how powerful and tense race is of an issue in American culture. As someone born into a Muslim family, but is a closet agnostic, the perversions I felt Elijah Muhammad perpetuated made me severely uncomfortable anyway. Several parts of this book made me cry, or be wistful I could somehow have found peace in Islam as Malcolm X did.

A very good book.

Every American should read this literature. It discusses America's most obvious flaw. More importantly it demonstrates the power of transformation, tolerance of self and of others, cooperation and the importance of hope.

This study Bible was a gift for my sister-in-law. She is very happy with it, as she had requested it. Shipment was very prompt.

Nice Bible Easy Reading Love the translation

If you are searching for a study Bible that focuses on the best modern
scholarship around concerning the texts that make up the Bible, you will
soon find out from most reviews on Amazon (as well as from other places
such as universities) the best of the more objective ones are The New
Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha, Augmented Third Edition, New
Revised Standard Version - this augmented edition with added new maps,
charts, diagrams, and updated introductions, the HarperCollins Study
Bible (just revised in 2006), and the New Interpreter's Study Bible. All
three come with the New Revised Standard Version, generally accepted by
scholars as the most accurate English translation. All come with the
Apocrypha, though the New Oxford Annotated Bible is available without
it. If you can afford it, I recommend all three.

The New Oxford Annotated Bible (NOAB), if compared to the HarperCollins
Study Bible, is a larger tome, mainly because of a more expansive layout
and larger font (very comfortable on the eyes), and the chunk of essay
material that is present in the back is one of the most helpful parts of
the NOAB (much more extensive than the others), though the HarperCollins
appears to have more extensive notes at the bottom of the biblical text
in tiny print. In addition to the essays in the back, the NOAB has very
good introductory essays to the major sections and individual books, as
do the other two bibles.

The NOAB is not a conservative work, and looks at the bible as
literature, from a more historical-critical viewpoint, much as the
HarperCollins bible does. The New Interpreter's (NISB) is usually
expressed to be an amalgam of the two Bibles mentioned above, and
sometimes recommended in place of the other two because of additional
material that can be found offset from the notes that goes in depth on
particular subjects of interest in the text. It is certainly the largest
of the three volumes (HarperCollins being the most compact), but the
binding of the NISB itself appears lowest in quality. The New Oxford
Annotated Bible is my overall favorite of the lot at this time, though
it lacks section headings, which are available in the others.

As with any study Bible of any persuasion, blind acceptance of the
notes, commentary, or essay material should not occur; it does not hurt
to gain the insights of the best scholarship available today, no matter
what your beliefs are about the nature of the Bible, and whether you are
in agreement or not. Valid beliefs should stand up under scrutiny; so I
say scrutinize.

The Bible commentaries are written from a decidedly liberal theological perspective. It is obvious that the authors believe the Bible is just a product of ancient myths and storytelling. They disbelieve miracles and explain away prophecy by assigning late dates for the books. Their notes are not balanced and does not really present opposing points of view or evidence to the contrary. More a work of anti-Christian / anti-Jewish propaganda than a balanced, scholarly work. Also, while it is not a bad translation, the NRSV does have some gender-neutrality inserted into it. All in all, I cannot recommend this study Bible. It reads like skeptics and non-believers wrote it. Instead, I would recommend the NIV Study Bible or NKJV Study Bible.

I just started using this in a bible study on Tobit. I found the notes to be quite readable and very informative. I know I'll get a great deal of use out of this bible.

I'll be brief (no pun intended). If you are a lawyer or law student who wants to write better and more persuasive briefs - buy or borrow this book! I've completely changed my legal writing style after reading Judge Scalia and Garner's book.

Legal education does not end with the finishing of your law degree.
The challange begins when you prepare your first brief and stand before the Judge to argue your first case. If you are not prepared well and are not confident to appear before the Judge your mind may become blank. The Skill of Advocacy is acquired slowly as time goes by and you become confident day by day. A good command over the language of the Court is a must. Absolutely essential are also the General Principals of Argumentation as lucidly described by the Hon'ble Antonin Scalia & Mr. Garner in their wonderful book on advocacy popularly known as "The Art of Persuading Judges".

Sometimes it's easy to lose sight of common sense, and many of the things Mr. Garner and Justice Scalia point out as being helpful and persuasive are common sense. The book is organized nicely into small bits that make it an easy read. I'd recommend this to any attorney, or even to anyone who simply wants to be more persuasive in writing or speaking.

If you are a practitioner seeking insightful wisdom from a Supreme Court Justice to improve your advocacy skills, this book is not for you. Those who have taken a basic legal writing and/or moot court course will not find any new information here. Essentially, the authors have compiled highlights from a legal writing textbook, added a few quotes from famous judges and a few examples from their own experience, and billed this as a book of wisdom. It appears that most of the book was written by co-author Bryan Garner, drawing on the material from his past publications on the same subject, with Justice Scalia merely placing his name on the cover in order to sell more copies. This is evident by comparing the writing styles of the co-authors when they disagree at a few points in the book. Garner's entries read like the rest of the book; Justice Scalia's entries read like one of his court opinions. Overall, if you are a practitioner, you likely already have a legal writing book stashed away in a box from law school that will serve you just as well.

As a plaintiff's lawyer who also does appeal work, this book was very interesting but little is memorable after a few days. I'm glad I signed it out from the library instead of buying it. It's just a repeat of basic (naive) advocacy principles. The image is that your judge will really conscientiuosly read things and be careful to rule properly. The book is very well-edited--so you won't read much of substance that is realistic or cynical--like about judicial intellectual dishonesty. Scalia gives no insight on how to get an honest opinion from an appellate court--how to keep appeals judges from ignoring things in the record (or making up things) just so they can come up with a very good-appearing opinion that is wrong because it has result-oriented oddities that only the parties' lawyers know about. Summary judgment (and more recently dismissal for failure to state a claim) have become procedural easy-outs that have created widespread dishonesty by judges who want to get rid of cases (usually because they are infatuated with defense counsel). Often defense counsel succeed only because they loudly and assertively repeat their propaganda--and judges (or their staff) go right along (letting perception become reality). Also, de novo judicial review is in reality deferential to the trial judge (with unwillingness to reverse--finding any way possible (dishonest) to affirm).

There were some very good points--like not being lured into making concessions during oral argument. There might be one detail that prevents the judges from (honestly) ruling a certain way--so you could get a question that so temptingly and nicely tries to get you to agree with an innocuous point, etc. There is a great example of how the judges will write about such a concession in their opinion. Another good point is Scalia's belief that whatever doesn't help your case hurts it (i.e., don't fill your briefs, etc. with unhelpful things).

There could have been some mention of realities like that most judges and staff never in their lives had to prosecute a civil case (or never had a burden-of-proof in their lives) or never had to deal with defense counsel in a contentious manner (e.g., trying to get discovery through a motion to compel)--and how to work with that in the justice system (those judges and staff).

I also didn't like Justice Scalia's pompous "dissents" on some points by Bryan Garner. They stand out in hindsight as ugly parts. It appears that Bryan Garner did the heavy lifting in writing the book.

This book is a fantastic primer on cell biology and what's being discovered today about quantum physics and how it relates in a macro way to the cell. what was both daunting AND respectable about the book is the amount of technical education given on cell biology, chemistry, energy, etc. I found myself skimming over some, but I wanted to honor the mans' work as much as possible, and I realized that I could say "no" to the dumbing down of society by slowing down and ingesting the information.

The book gives an entirely new slant to how our state of mind as well as subconscious programming gives rise to changes in cell and body chemistry. In fact, this is probably the most complete information I've seen on how the subconscious works in relation to the conscious, as well as the REASON that the first four years of a child's life are the most important. Very sobering, a must read for anyone wishing to lead a more conscious life.

I don't think this book is worthwhile to the public. The author borders on the edge of intelligent design and creates unbased analogies in his book about how things just work out.

I can't think of examples because I honeslty tossed this book in the trash and am just writing a review because for some reason Amazon has this book as one its recommendations for me.

Often, personal stories of discovery in books on physics/healing/cosmology, etc, tend to be tedious and self-indulgent. Not so with Bruce Lipton's work, "The Biology of Belief". Not only are his descriptions and analogies for his discoveries and insights into cell biology and consciusness clear and concise, but one finds oneself swept along through the book by Lipton's own great enthusiasm for his subject.

This is a ground-breaking book based on ground-breaking, risk-taking science. I congratulate Lipton on a wonderful work that is intellectually stimulating, enjoyable, and thought-provoking. Lipton is bringing biology into the new spiritual era of quantum theory, and placing the power for our own healing of life and body squarely onto ourselves. A must-read!

I have referenced this book to so many people I cannot count. When I encounter people who do not understand the actual biology and physics of the "attraction principles", I send them to Lipton who does a superb job. He is able to clearly describe what a non-scientist can understand, while using scientific backbone to support his views. I am glad this one is on my shelf.

Lipton's book turns our understanding of the world inside out: it is not the DNA inside the cells that controls them, but the interaction of the outer cell membrane receptors with their environment. Starting from what is known and accepted, the author extrapolates to what transcends accepted science. Along the way he presents to the reader a thorough description of cell biology. It is all quite remarkable, but will you dare follow where he leads? How the mind affects the body's health? The effect that mother's emotions have over the development of the fetus? How some hydrocephalic children have high IQs although they lack most of their physical brain?

And then there is the matter of matter. The author points out that everything in the universe consists of atoms, and atoms are made out of [electrons and quarks] invisible energy not tangible matter. And since all energy in the universe should be describable by one mathematical expression, everything is inter-related, everything communicates with everything else. One could follow many paths from here, but Lipton concentrates on how our personal beliefs affect our physical cells: how many of these beliefs, formed from as early as our fetus days, lie hidden in our unconscious only to surface unexpectedly and affect our cells in completely mysterious ways.

The author saves most of his personal conclusions for the epilogue: a discussion of our conscious selves, our personal relationship with everything else in our environment (which he calls the Divine), and mankind's next step up the evolution ladder. He concludes that "The survival of the Most Loving is the only ethic that will ensure not only a healthy personal life but also a healthy planet." He thus joins the considerable number of scientists who have discovered that the effect of love exceeds the boundaries of religion and should be treated as a real and potent power in the universe.

(The writer is the author of The Way of the Butterfly: A Scientific Speculation on God and the Hereafterand of "Christianity Without Fairy Tales: When Science And Religion Merge.")