Tort Hornbook - Prosser - 11th or 12th edition? Forum

[mes10d]

Hi everyone --

I'm picking up Prosser's Torts HB for a little bit of light reading. I can get a new 11th ed book for $20, or I can get a 12th ed book with some highlighting for $120. This is incredibly supplementary, as I already have 2 required books for torts, a supplement written by the professor, and Glannon's E&Es. Is it worth it to miss out on a few things and save $100? I've been trying to google any significant differences b/t the two editions, but haven't had much luck. Thanks!

[MoneyMay]

Dude wtf lol don't read Prosser. Seriously please don't read it; that book covers far, far more than any first year torts class does and goes into way too much detail. Even if you wanted to, you won't have enough time to read for class, and read the e&e and read the supplement by the professor and read Prosser. If your professor wrote a supplement then that's all you need and don't waste any time or money on another supplement. If you seriously want to try to read Prosser during the semester go to the library and read it in there.

[mes10d]

Dude, good deal. Thanks!

[MoneyMay]

Dude, good deal. Thanks!

You're welcome! And let me explain why, I didn't mean to come off as so brash. And also if anyone else reads this.

You're going to be bombarded with so much stuff during 1L that you're just not going to have enough time to read every supplement out there. You want to make sure everything you do has a purpose (that purpose being getting ready for the exam). Prosser is almost 1300 pages (I just looked it up) which is over three times longer than my torts casebook. A hornbook should be used as a reference material and something you turn to only when you're super fucking confused (I only used a hornbook for civ pro, which for me was the hardest class in law school both b/c of the subject matter and the professor I had liked to hide the ball-- a terrible combo) if you choose to use them at all. And it's generally not something you buy because reference materials like that will be used so sparingly you don't need your own copy at home and you can just use the library's copy. It's definitely not something you will carry around day to day. Also, torts is usually considered the easiest 1L class and you really don't need to be reading a hornbook for that class (IMO at least)--- IMO what sets the curve isn't knowledge of the material but instead writing ability, knowing how to write a law school exam, knowing what quirks your prof. has etc.

And if your prof. wrote a supplement you don't need to worry about finding a supplement that matches the way your prof. thinks because you already have one! I wouldn't even mess with the e&e tbh (which I know is highly regarded) since you got your professor's way of thinking is in the supplement he wrote. Good luck!

[First Offense]

Also - just to add on: if there's one class where I think a hornbook is unnecessary, it would probably be torts. It's very straightforward.

[mes10d]

Thanks very much to both MoneyMay and First Offense!

(It's a short supplement, which is why I got the E&E.)