Law Books

As a professional eco-friendly interior designer, I find Harmonious Environment: Beautify, Detoxify & Energize Your Life, Your Home & Your Planet by Norma Lehmeier Hartie to be an indispensable tool for my work.

This book started the "green part" of my career. The sections on green living and green products for the home, along with the hundreds of resources, taught me everything I need to know--and where to purchase--green products for the home. There is also a chapter on organic and healthy food and eco-friendly personal care products and on cleaning supplies.

I utilize the tips on organizing and de-cluttering for my clients, too. (For those clients that simply can't get rid of stuff or organize, I give them the book as a gift! It works!)

The sections on Feng Shui are fantastic. Hartie makes difficult concepts easy to understand and execute. I also appreciate the fact that she takes Feng Shui into the 21st century and advises based on Western culture what makes sense. Superstitions based on eastern culture from 1000's of years ago are replaced with down-to-earth and timely advice.

As an interior designer, color is a big part of my job. Hartie incorporates the psychology of color into decorating and this works really well. For example, cool colors like purples and blues work best in rooms that need quiet--like bedrooms--because they will decrease your blood pressure and allow you to rest.

The book has tons of information, but it is easily understood and includes a good index for future reference.

Harmonious Environment is a must-have!

Harmonious Environment: Beautify, Detoxify & Energize Your Life, Your Home & Your Planet, by Norma Lehmeier Hartie, is an indispensable reference book for anyone who cares about their health and well being and for the future of the planet.

Hartie concisely covers a wide range of subjects and includes a comprehensive listing of advisory organizations, product and service resources. Part I of the book, "Banish the Ugly from Your Life," is a blueprint for green, sustainable living. Discover how to replace toxic and unsustainable products from household cleaners to food (including recipes) to furniture to personal care products with safe, eco-friendly ones. Hartie is the tough but motivational Life Coach in her approach to cleaning, removing clutter and on organizing the home or office.

Part II, "Bring in the Beautiful to Create a Harmonious Environment and Self," includes a chapter on Earth-based spirituality and a fascinating look at the Four Elements (Earth, Fire, Air and Water) and the Medicine Wheel. The core of Hartie's philosophy blossoms in Chapter Seven, "Applying Harmonious Adjustments(tm): Using Feng Shui and Other Techniques for Powerful Results." Unlike other Feng Shui authors, Hartie has experience as a designer and her skills are apparent in this chapter and the following two. She has combined principles of Feng Shui, the Four Elements, color, energy, Vastu, creative visualization, and good design principles that create a unique and eclectic approach to home decorating. Finally, Hartie provides guidance on how to manifest personal or professional desires.

In Part III, "Putting the Pieces Together," Hartie skillfully integrates the many subjects of the book into a unified and cohesive whole.

At its cover price of $19.95, Harmonious Environment is a value alone for the comprehensive green living product suppliers in the Resources section.

What makes this book so truly ambitious, however, is what lies beneath the surface. In a sense, this book is only marginally about decorating ones home per se; it is a tome about personal transformation and about saving the earth. A theme that runs throughout the book is that all beings on earth are interconnected energetically. It is empowering to read that each person has the ability to manipulate their homes and self to both raise the collective energy and to manifest their own desires. Motivational, enlightening and well organized, Harmonious Environment is one remarkable book.

The most impressive aspect of Harmonious Environment is the cover of the book. I found the information to be very basic, idealistic, or common sense. If someone has lived in total chaos and now wants to morph into harmony, this is the book for you! If, however, you're already seeking harmony in your home, I would not recommend this book to you. Harmonious Environment is a primer and only for beginners.

This is a great book for both the beginner and those working on clearing their environment. A very interesting read.

This book has a little bit of everything - feng shui, zodiac signs, dowsing, recipes, and organizational tips. It's so full of information it can be a little overwhelming, but she does organize the book very well. I enjoyed the food recipes and the recipes for natural cleaning solutions. The author also states that dogs prefer positive energy and that cats prefer negative energy, which I have long suspected.

The book has too much of a mystical hoopla vibe for me, though. I stopped when she got to the section about the negative effects of tampons on my spiritual energy or whatever.

The author Mark Rosenkranz has written a prolific prospective on the subject of racism. His unique way of presenting the information enables the reader to help understand one's own biases which is the first step in recognizing racism. He focuses on discrimination from an introspective point of view. The author interviewed eight different people from various backgrounds. One of which is Brian Swann, who experienced racism with his renowned brother pro football hall of fame and Gubernatorial candidate Lynn Swann. The Swann brothers filed a civil lawsuit against the San Francisco Police Department for discrimination and won their case. I believe the average reader will find his work insightful and captivating. I would highly recommend this book to anyone whether or not they have experienced racism in their lives.

Well, I really wish I could give this book five stars. I DO support his premise and indeed there are some thought-provoking passages.

Unfortunately, I really expected more. This is a nicely-bound (former) e-book which is quite thin and double-spaced. (And there are a few typos that shouldn't have gotten past the editor but oh well...)

The author's arguments are thought-provoking, but they are not compelling in that there is not really any research presented that would "win over" readers that don't share his position. The one story with the most detail is a localized event from quite some time ago and which speaks more to racism than to white male privilege. I feel the author really misses a chance to educate us about the *institutionalization* of this phenomenon and how it affects most Americans much of the time. Also it would have been nice to illustrate how this affects women as well. Lastly, the interviews are presented almost more as survey results than interviews. The depth and substance that we'd expect are lacking.

But again overall -- much lauding to the author for taking on a topic that is almost taboo these days.

What strikes me about this book is the fact that the author seems to genuinely care about the responses he gets from his interviewees. I know I'm doing some reading between the lines, but I believe it's because the author himself has spent a good amount of time reflecting on his own predjudices and experiences, and I commend him for doing so. I hope those who read his book will be inspired to do the same.

A unique insight into the "whys" of racism. This book is an easy read that will have the reader reflecting on how he/she affects and is affected by racism and quite possibly can cause a change in behaviors through that reflection. The interviews say a lot about how racism affects the interviewees both in what was said and what was not.

"Feel It Real !" by Denise Coates is a MUST read book for all walks of life! To give myself kudos, I was her agent in Hollywood & even helped pick out her picture on her book! I do have an eye for talent. This lady has many talents for the world to discover, believe me! This book helped me put the law of attraction, in full force now for my new LLC, business: "Excel Entertainment" Excelling Women & Minorities in the Music & Ent. Industry.
Thank you Denise for your insight to making dreams come true! Victoria Torres @ myspace.com/victoriaexcelent

Feel it Real is a great book. Denise Coates is such a wonderful teacher and "lightworker." This book gives practical advise to keep you in the "good vibrations" to manifest your goals. If you can feel it, it can become real. The games are fun and practical.

Denise's book is full of great tools that help you keep vibrating at levels that not only make you feel great, immediately lifting one's mood to levels that will not only help manifest desires for the future, but will also make you experience joy and happiness right now. They are better than any drug I know for lifting depression and anxiety resulting from all the negative thinking most people usually engage in unconsciously throughout their daily life. If you want to feel better and happier now, while creating a great future for yourself, then I highly recommend this book.

This book is truly amazing. Games are fun, easy, interesting and have lots of variety. You can easily incorporate these tips into your day. There are enough games so that you don't get bored and you can easily find something appropriate for changing your vibration in any situation.

I am a big believer in LOA and have read many books on why it works and how to apply it. However, I seem to get caught up in learning the "hows" and not actually doing the work.

This book takes the work out and puts the fun in. Denise's games are clever and fun to do. I actually look forward to opening her book every night and playing a game.

She keeps me light hearted about all of it - which is key to manifesting.

What Jeffrey P. Moran has put together with "The Scopes Trial: A Brief History with Documents" is an excellent modern counterpart to Sheldon Norman Grebstein's "Monkey Trial: The State of Tennessee vs. John Thomas Scopes" in 1960, which was the first attempt to provide excerpts from the trial transcript with other historical documents that allow contemporary scholars to get a sense for what it was like to follow the trial of the century in 1925.

There are three main parts to Moran's look at the Scopes Trial. Part One is Moran's "Introduction: The Scopes Trial and the Birth of Modern America," which consists of setting up the trial in the context of the issues of both the evolution controversy and the struggle against "modernity," a overview of the genesis of the test case and the key stages of the trial, and at look at the aftermath of the trial. The first two sections are a concise look at the history of the trial but it is the last section where Moran makes his mark looking at not only the how the evolution issues has reemerged in recent times as creationism, but also how the conflict represented issues of regionalism, ruralism, academic freedom, race, and gender.

Part Two: "The Scopes Trial Day by Day: Transcript and Commentary" abandons the distinct stages Moran set up in his introduction to look at the trial each day. What Moran provides are excerpts from the trial transcript and one or more newspaper accounts covering the trial. For example, the second day's proceedings find both a transcript of defense attorney Clarence Darrow's speech in defense of religious liberty and journalist H.L. Mencken's column "Darrow's Speech Great but Futile." The celebrated duel in the shade when Darrow cross-examined Bryan is presented in sections focusing on the whale swallowing Jonah, Joshua commanding the sun to stand still, the flood wiping out civilization, and the chapter of Genesis, followed by the New York Times story "Laughter at Bryan's Expense."

The part I most applaud is Moran's inclusion of most of Dudley Field Malone's reply to William Jennings Bryan on the fifth day on the issue of the admission of expert testimony from scientific experts, because that corrects what I consider to be the major flaw in Edward J. Larson's "Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America's Continuing Debate Over Science and Religion." Larson reduces Malone's speech, the oratorical highlight of the trial, to two paragraphs, one on the speech and the other on the reaction of the crowd. What he misses are that Malone's speech represents the position of reconciliation in which evolution and Genesis were seen as being compatible rather than contradictory. It is only under Judge Raulston rules against the scientific testimony that the Scopes defense is left with no other option but to put Bryan on the stand and hold him up to ridicule, ask for their client to be convicted, and start working on the appeal. While Moran pays even less attention to Malone's speech in his introduction, those who read it are going to be impressed by not only its oratorical flourishes but his arguments, which are the most reasonable articulated during the trial.

The final part of Moran's book looks at "The Scopes Trial and the Culture of the 1920s: The Documents." This includes seven cartoons on the trial and its participants followed by sections devoted to the issues Moran had set up earlier: race, educational freedom, the "New Woman," religious alternative, and the invasion of "outsiders." The highpoints in this section are W.E.B. Du Boi's article "Dayton IS America," Bryan's "Who Shall Control Our Schools?", a pair of letters from women in Tennessee supporting the Butler Act, and the Reverend John Roach Straton's "A Fundamentalist Defends Tennessee against Outside Invasion." Most of these documents are from 1925, although a few come earlier and later. If you were paying attention to the Scopes Trial that year these are what you would have been reading about in the press. One interesting choice is the section included from George W. Hunter's "A Civil Biology," the science textbook used at Dayton's high school, is not about evolution but rather about race and eugenics (but the evolutionary tree in Hunter that Bryan ridiculed is provided during his first speech).

For all of the documents Moran provides a brief introduction providing necessary background information and raising at least one question that readers can consider while reading each section. There are a series of photographs from the trial in the first part of the book, but neither of the shots I have seen of Darrow questioning Bryan on the platform outside the Rhea County Courthouse. I did my dissertation on the Scopes Trial and was impressed with how Moran edited the trial transcript because he includes not only the key arguments for each stage of the trial, but he also works in the most infamous exchanges between the lawyers. I can quibble on some of the selections from journalists (I always liked the coverage of the trial by the "Commonweal") and the editorial cartoons, but what is provided certainly performs the desired functions.

The biggest irony behind the Scopes Trial is that John Thomas Scopes never taught evolution in Dayton, Tennessee in 1925. He was substituting for the regular science teacher and as the school's football coach worked on plays with his boys. That was the main reason the defense did not allow Scopes to take the stand and when Howard Morgan was examined on the fourth day of the trial the young student had to be prepped on what was in the Hunter textbook (which, in another irony, was the mandated textbook selected by the state that had to be taught in class). But in the final analysis Scopes' innocence was a minor consideration in the clash of forces at Dayton, Tennessee in the summer of 1925, which Moran's book amply evidences.

The Scopes Trial: A Brief History with Documents is a wonderful introduction to the Scopes "monkey" trial and its significance in history. I found the narrative history to be a quick but compelling and informative read, and was especially interested in the way in which the author shows how events during the time period following the First World War influenced the parties and helped to explain their motivations. I also found the documents, including excerpts from the trial transcript and newspaper articles of the time to be very helpful in understanding the manner in which the trial developed and the manner in which it was perceived nationally. Anyone looking for a readable yet informative work on the Scopes trial would be well advised to look into this book.

Let me start by saying that I liked this book a lot. In fact I'd recommend it to anyone aged 12 or over as an excellent - by the standards of America's academia - introduction to the Scopes trial.

As the author and developer of a web site devoted to the facts and myths surrounding the Scopes Trial since the end of the 20th century I am very much aware of how widely the case is misrepresented by American academics. Indeed I have documented on that web site a number of instances of the kind of twaddle written about the events in 1925 by professors of US colleges and universities. So deep has this malaise penetrated, in fact, that even Bryan's entry in the "Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774-Present" claims that Bryan died on the floor of the courtroom - a "fact" drawn not from history but from the play/film "Inherit the Wind" - though the author does at least get the date right: July 26th (a Sunday, and almost exactly 5 days after the trial ended, around mid-day on July 21st).

In light of that, it is only fair to say that Moran's book is streets ahead of most other books on the subject that I've read so far, with the one exception of Edward Larson's outstanding "Summer for the Gods". Moreover, they way it is broken down into bite-size sections would seem to make it ideal as the basis for use in schools.

So, what's the problem?

In brief, Moran has collected plenty of "dots", but they aren't always accurate, and the way he "joins them up" leaves something to be desired.

To be fair, many of the inaccuracies are fairly minor; but large or small they are not what one would expect to find in a book by a history professor at the University of Kansas and, to quote the back cover: "A specialist in modern American social and cultural history".

For example, there's the claim that the phrase "trial of the century" was invented in the 1920's (page 2). It wasn't. The title had been applied to the trial of Leo Frank, back in 1913.
On page 28, Moran for some unexplained reason expands the population of Dayton from the usual estimate of 1,800 to 2,200.
And again, Moran seems confused about the nature of eugenics as practised in the USA. On page 16 he rightly only mentions "negative" eugenics - the intention to erase anyone who the eugenicists didn't approve of. But on page 68 he describes both negative AND positive eugenics as though they were both in favour. ("Positive" eugenics being the intention to get eugenically "fit" citizens to produce as many children as was reasonably possible. In practice US eugenicists abandoned "positive eugenics" quite early on and concentrated on policies that promoted only "negative eugenics". See Edwin Black's extensively researched book, "War Against the Weak".)

This last point is particularly relevant to the documentation featured in the chapter on "Race and the Scopes Trial", where we find that black writers of the period viewed the anti-evolutionists as their main enemy and seem to have completely overlooked the blatantly racist nature of eugenicist views such as those the in the textbook at the heart of the trial 'A Civic Biology', which characterised "the Ethiopian or negro type" as the lowest of the "five races".

One of the most useful features in the book is the way that readers are frequently invited to consider specific questions relevant to the material. This seemed like a sadly missed opportunity to raise a question about the various ways in which individuals and groups interpreted the events very much from the perspective of their personal views and perceptions.

Still on the subject of failing to "join up the dots", Moran, in his introduction to the documentation drawn from "A Civic Biology", omits any mention of the fact that Hunter's comments on research into the "Jukes" and "Kallikak" families refers to material which either misrepresented the evidence (in the case of the Jukes), or was based on a highly questionable, subjective methodology rather than genuinely "scientific" research; and that the use of this material is prima facie evidence of the "negative" approach by eugenicists in the USA.

Or again, in the chapter on "The Scopes Trial and the 'New Woman'" it seems strange indeed that Moran totally omits the advent of mass psychological manipulation of the American public using methods initiated by Edward Bernays, etc. This process originated in the pro-war propaganda during WWI, and was subsequently employed on behalf of American manufacturers with the express intention of changing public attitudes on a whole raft of subjects. Particularly relevant in this context is Bernays' "Torch of Freedom" campaign on behalf of the American Tobacco Company which concealed its true purpose (to radically increase cigarette sales) behind its avowed intention to "empower women" by giving them access to symbolic penises (i.e. cigarettes).

Overall it seemed to me that Moran makes every effort to be even handed to all parties, including William Jennings Bryan. Though his comment about Bryan being branded "an ignorant bigot" (page 2) is rendered the more partisan by his failure to mention that this assessment was, for the most part, only accepted by those who were anti-Bryan in the first place, whilst Darrow was characterised in much the same way by those who supported Bryan.

I gave the book four stars mainly because it compares so favourably with most other books on the subject. Taken solely as a work of objective research, however, 2.5 stars would, in my opinion, be more appropriate.

As a beginning mediator, I found this book very detailed and theoretical. I am sure that I will return to it again and again as I gain experience. I found "Basic Skills for the New Mediator (2d edition)" by Allan H. Goodman to provide a quicker and more practical overview. When used together, I believe both books are a good basis for the practicing mediator.

This book was great and exactly how it was described in the review. I received it at a fast pace.
Thanks.

This book is not only very easy to carry around but is an awesome tool for students and practitioners. Right to the point and easy reading format, a must to deal with the most complicated area of our laws. It seems that it will be a good tool for a while since there's no change to immigration laws on sight in the near future.

I would HIGHLY encourage anyone taking Immigration law to purchase this nutshell. It succintly covered all the topics of immigration law and trendously helped in understanding this evolving field of law.

i think that the book is very good, easy to read, well written and conveniently composed so that information is easy to be found

This book is better than average. It is a solid and thorough overview. I recommend it.

The most difficult thing about studying any body of laws resides, not in its substance, but in its presentation. One advantage of immigration law is that it relies heavily on fairly stable categories. This book should help anyone but the most impatient to build a first outline of the main categories of immigration law--with helpful annotations.

15 chapters: 1-4 (background information--including history and constitutional law); 5 (immigrant visas), 6 (nonimmigrant visas), 7 (zooms on student visas--a sub-category of nonimmigrant visas), 8 (removal--formerly "deportation"), 9 (inadmissibility), 10 (refugees/asyless), 11 (international law), 12 (citizenship), 13 (zooms on rights of aliens in general), 14 (criminal aspects of immigration law), 15 (ethical practice).

My main advice is to take good note of the general INA and CFR provisions under each category and subcategory, and names (and holdings, why not) of important cases. Add that to your outline, and you have a fine guide for further research. In other words, if your goal is to familiarize yourself with the field AS A WHOLE for the first time, don't get bogged down in the discussions of legal history and cases at first (yes, this is not a manual, so what's the point?)--except for the general history of US immigration law at the start of the book, which gives you a good first sense of the "spirit" of US immigration policy. You could come back to those discussions later, without the aggravation.

I do not recommend delving directly into any body of laws that is as extensive as immigration law, unless of course you have a few years to spare--but then again why waste that time? Think of books like this one as you would of maps: you don't want to have to start looking for California, street by street, starting in Washington DC. The point is this: an overview is always useful. This one should help you, if you use it properly.

When I was in film school there was a lot of film history and film theory, and no one talked about television often enough for us to learn anything worth while about it. I now work as a television director, and it was this book that taught me the "business" aspects of the industry. Without this book I would probably be out of work or directing the local news someplace like Lima, Ohio.

This book is so hot that it's been stolen from my office library 3 times. I'm on my 4th purchase of this book. I felt like I could have an intellegent conversation about any aspect of the television business after using this book. It is my main resource for getting quick answers that are easy to understand. This is required reading for those getting started and a great resource for those that have been in the industry a while. It also includes a computer disk containing forms such as U.S. Copyright registration and others found in the book that you can import to your word processor.

Ron Hebert
Producer
2002 Emmy Awards - Pacific Southwest Chapter

This Business of Television is a landmark volume in our practice (entertainment industry economic forecasting) for three reasons.

Reason # 3: it is incredible that guys of this stature would take the time to compile such an essential and complete perspective of the television business. Goodenough, a seasoned entertainment lawyer, law professor, and a scholar pioneering the study of law and evolutionary biology, brings the structure and rigor, while Blumenthal, a prolific TV, multimedia, and online entertainment producer and businessman brings the been-there-done-that street savvy.

Reason # 2: it is, after all, the business that pays for the content (the subscriber, pay-per-view, advertising, syndication, and the latest, e-commerce revenue models) and the content that drives the migration to new technology (streaming media webcasting and video-on-demand, interactive TV, and wireless). The clear understanding of the financial systems supporting television and video entertainment offered by Oliver and Howard in this book facilitates the modeling of future monetary transactions.

Reason # 1: video programming spread from broadcast to cable and then to satellite in one generation. The last decade found it spreading to the PC via CD-ROM, DVD, and broadband Internet. In the future it will be found on our cell phones, wristwatches, car seat backs, and refrigerators. There will be innovations in business arrangements along the way, but those who cannot converse in the basic economics will be doomed.

This segues into a jacket quote by Morty Morton, former producer of the Late Show with David Letterman, who remarked, "This Business of Television has gotten me through years of moderate success in the TV business. I'm now ready to burn the damn thing and open a restaurant."

This book (textbook) is an excellent resource for just about everything in TV. The disk included is a great utility to have for printing out your own contracts. I only with this book could be updated, say, every two years.

This Business of Television is a landmark volume in our practice (micro-economic forecasting for the entertainment industry). Here are the top three reasons why.

Reason # 3: it is incredible that guys of this stature would take the time to compile such an essential and complete perspective of the television business. Goodenough, a seasoned entertainment lawyer, law professor, and a scholar pioneering the study of law and evolutionary biology, brings the structure and rigor, while Blumenthal, a prolific TV, multimedia, and online entertainment producer and businessman brings the been-there-done-that street savvy.

Reason # 2: it is, after all, the business that pays for the content (the subscriber, pay-per-view, advertising, syndication, and the latest, e-commerce revenue models) and the content that drives the migration to new technology (streaming media webcasting and video-on-demand, interactive TV, and wireless). The clear understanding of the financial systems supporting television and video entertainment offered by Oliver and Howard in this book facilitates the modeling of future monetary transactions.

Reason # 1: video programming spread from broadcast to cable and then to satellite in one generation. The last decade found it spreading to the PC via CD-ROM, DVD, and broadband Internet. In the future it will be found on our cell phones, wristwatches, car seat backs, and refrigerators. There will be innovations in business arrangements along the way, but those who cannot converse in the language of economics will be doomed.

The second edition proudly bears a jacket quote by Morty Morton, former producer of the Late Show with David Letterman, who remarked, "This Business of Television has gotten me through years of moderate success in the TV business. I'm now ready to burn the damn thing and open a restaurant."