Great Books to Read Before Heading to Law School Forum

[bjsesq]

Plumpers Magazine. For the articles, of course.

[liltay357]

I'm having a hard time getting thru "Getting to Maybe" seems a little like common sense so far, but maybe that's a good sign.Nonetheless I bought it so I will finish it. le sigh

OAN: Who thinks its a good idea to invest in the law preview courses? (please don't direct me to the thread, I can perfectly well use the search function

Anyone super excited about law school?!

I am.

[Flips88]

I'm having a hard time getting thru "Getting to Maybe" seems a little like common sense so far, but maybe that's a good sign.Nonetheless I bought it so I will finish it. le sigh

OAN: Who thinks its a good idea to invest in the law preview courses? (please don't direct me to the thread, I can perfectly well use the search function

Anyone super excited about law school?!

I am.

I'm also getting the common sense vibe from GTM: Explore both sides of the issue, focus on what your prof focus on, etc.

As for paying a lot of money for a Law Preview thing, I think the general consensus is not a very good investment.

[NVResident]

Given American law's foundations in English common law I would recommend both Winston Churchill's "History of the English Speaking Peoples" (4-volume set) and/or Blackstone's "Commentaries on the Laws of England" (4-volume set). Both will provide much of the historical context for property, tort, criminal, and contract law.

[Vronsky]

Why the hell is this book on the UMich website:

D.H. Lawrence, Lady Chatterly's Lover??? it's basically literary porn from the 19th century. not that great either. spoiler alert: lady marries impotent old man. carries on affair with woodsman/hunter. has sex in his cabin repeatedly. detailed accounts of her orgasms. then feels guilty, etc. rinse and repeat.

I will second these nominations:

The Post-American World by Fareed Zakaria.
Getting To Maybe
Law School Confidential/1L of a ride (if you want 1L background stuff)
Chemerinsky if you have con law
A civil action (haven't read it but everyone raves and i actually enjoyed the movie)
if you want some trashy legal lit, i also enjoyed the Lincoln Lawyer book (haven't seen the movie tho)

[Flips88]

Given American law's foundations in English common law I would recommend both Winston Churchill's "History of the English Speaking Peoples" (4-volume set) and/or Blackstone's "Commentaries on the Laws of England" (4-volume set). Both will provide much of the historical context for property, tort, criminal, and contract law.

TR0L0L0L0L0L

[Stringer Bell]

Right now I'm reading Black Rednecks and White Liberals by Thomas Sowell.

[Verity]

Right now I'm reading Black Rednecks and White Liberals by Thomas Sowell.

Just finished his blatantly conservative Basic Economics and Applied Economics. They were good though.

That's another thing, I hear it's beneficial for 0Ls to brush up on some basic econ., accounting and finance before law school, especially if you want to do corporate.

[driftwood6]

+1000. People who read Ayn Rand and like it are...I can't find the word, but it's bad. Who has time for 1000+ pages of bullshyt?

I'm assuming you didn't read the whole thing then?

[Verity]

+1000. People who read Ayn Rand and like it are...I can't find the word, but it's bad. Who has time for 1000+ pages of bullshyt?

I'm assuming you didn't read the whole thing then?

I'm assuming you're a wimp and a fatty.

[Campagnolo]

Great Books and the law?

Lives of Solon and Lycurgus from Plutarch's Lives
Selections from the Summa Theologica by Thomas Aquinas regarding law
Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch by Kant

That ought to do you for the summer.

[driftwood6]

I'm assuming you're a wimp and a fatty.

Haha.

[ahduth]

Did Brothers Karamzov get covered off here?

[jtemp320]

As an incoming 1L I've been using the summer for two kinds of reading:

1. things that will get me excited about the legal field (though I recognize if I end up doing doc review they won't be too relevant...)

The Nine - Jeffrey Toobin
Scorpions - Noah Feldman
Convictions - John Kroger
Courting Justice - David Boies
My Granfather's Son - Clarence Thomas
Becoming Justice Blackmum - Linda Greenhouse

2. books I've wanted to read but haven't gotten around to reading that I know I won't get to read for a long time if I don't now...

T.E. Lawrence's The Seven Pillars of Wisdom, Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell (so far, cool anecdotes - annoyingly simplistic conclusions), Postwar by Tuny Judt, The Book of Basketball by Bill Simmons.

Thanks everyone who added their own recommendations - definitely planning on adding a couple more to the list - though I don't want to spend the whole summer reading, I think getting outside would be a good thing to do too.

[vpintz]

It is an abominable piece of literature.

+1000. People who read Ayn Rand and like it are...I can't find the word, but it's bad. Who has time for 1000+ pages of bullshyt?

bless this post.

also, not so much law related, but always a good read: "Thank You for Smoking." (movie is better IMO, but the book is still good.)

[FantasticMrFox]

Read "Fantastic Mr. Fox" by Roald Dahl

[BackToTheOldHouse]

Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy.

[re-applicant]

+1000. People who read Ayn Rand and like it are...I can't find the word, but it's bad. Who has time for 1000+ pages of bullshyt?

"There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs."

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/0 ... th-toohey/

[Flips88]

+1000. People who read Ayn Rand and like it are...I can't find the word, but it's bad. Who has time for 1000+ pages of bullshyt?

"There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs."

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/0 ... th-toohey/

It made me lol then and it made me lol this time around. I love Paul Krugman

[FantasticMrFox]

+1000. People who read Ayn Rand and like it are...I can't find the word, but it's bad. Who has time for 1000+ pages of bullshyt?

"There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs."

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/0 ... th-toohey/

Hahaha

[fatduck]

my ex-gf had an Ayn Rand-related gmail address. she cheated on me. shoulda known better.

[Flips88]

my ex-gf had an Ayn Rand-related gmail address. she cheated on me. shoulda known better.

Egoism. It's a real bitch.

[Verity]

my ex-gf had an Ayn Rand-related gmail address. she cheated on me. shoulda known better.

Haha, there was a movie called "The Passion of Ayn Rand" (note: no Mel Gibson). It made her look like the most bitchy hyper-slut ever.

[Sounder89]

Catch up on things you want to read purely for enjoyment (assuming your idea of pleasure reading is something other than Twilight, Going Rogue etc). You'll have more than enough dense, boring text to trudge through when you get to law school.

[Scipionyx]

A couple law-related books I thought were interesting:

Discipline and Punish by Michel Foucault
Law and the Rise of Capitalism by Michael Tigar

For fun and mental stimulation, Douglas Hofstadter's Gödel, Escher, Bach. And anything by Jorge Luis Borges.