December 2005 Bookshelf
Harvard Business Review on Doing Business in China (various editors)
This was a particularly good collection of articles from the Harvard Business Review. The essay named “The Hidden Dragons” by Ming Zeng and Peter J. Williamson was particularly good in its treatment of how domestic Chinese businesses are learning to compete for international market share by becoming increasingly sophisticated at their product management and marketing efforts.
Leonardo da Vinci: Flights of the Mind by Charles Nicholl
This 500 page biography of Leonardo da Vinci leaves one amazed at the creativity and unfettered curiosity of one of the greatest minds to have ever walked the earth. At times, the detail Nicholl’s presents as to da Vinci’s life can leave one losing sight of da Vinci the person, and this would be my one criticism of the book: in so accurately capturing the work of da Vinci’s life some of his humanity is lost. Perhaps this was Nicholl’s way of stopping short of conjecture as to parts of da Vinci’s biography that time does not allow us to speak for. If such was the case, Nicholl deserves credit for masterful restraint in writing a biography of a man so many have been so tempted to extrapolate so much about.
Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt by Anne Rice
Primarily known for her vampire and historical quasi-horror novels, author Anne Rice has turned her attention towards telling an intriguing story about the early life of Jesus. For Rice, the story is of more than literary value, as the novel captures her turn from a life absent belief in God towards the life of faith. This book covers the part of Jesus’ life as he and his family departs Egypt to go back to Israel. Interestingly, the book follows the scholarship of N.T. Wright particularly closely, paying specific attention to the question of Jesus’ understanding of himself.
Voltaire Almighty: a Life in Pursuit of Freedom by Roger Pearson
This book is a very good biography of Voltaire’s life. I am in great debt to Pearson for reminding his readers that to see Voltaire as an atheist is to show the depth of ignorance that exists as to the contributions from the British and French Enlightenments. Voltaire was no such atheist, and in fact wrote against the atheism characterized in his day by the atheistic (or some would say at best pantheistic) leanings within Spinoza’s writing. I will be dipping increasingly into Voltaire in 2006 as I wrestle with more of the classic arguments for deism and the individuals whose courage, insight and reason allowed those of us with questions to feel we do not ask these questions alone.
Lipstick Jungle by Candace Bushnell
Bushnell’s most recent book traces the trajectory of her past work, the unique role of women who are successful in what is by and large a man’s world. The complexity of Bushnell’s characters always resides in their internal confliction, and in the means by which they come to terms with a personal identity that truly fits them but which is inconsistent with what society expects from women. In this book Bushnell, of Sex and the City fame, has written another book with memorable characters whose exploration of their own lives and needs manages to make her readers think about their own motivations in relationships that, while convenient, may not be what they need or want.
What’s Out There: Images from Here to the Edge of the Universe by Stephen Hawking (foreword), et. al.
The magnificence of the images mankind has gathered of the universe over the last twenty years has opened up entirely new vistas for appreciating our world against the backdrop of the enormity of the universe. This book is an encyclopedia of astrophysical pictures with entries and pictures of each. There is something deeply profound and yet disquieting to appreciate the fickle role life plays in the vacuum of space. While reading the book, it is not difficult to see how man’s desire to believe he is special is in many ways a response mechanism to not feeling completely alone in the universe. To take seriously the enormity of the universe and our smallness within it would be to take this life so much more seriously than most of us do. This book, properly viewed, forces upon its readers a proper view of the community of earth, and our responsibilities for making this world as productive as it can be.
Law School Books – First Semester’s Reading
At some point in the future, reliving all the work done in the first semester of law school will be of interest to me. Right now, nothing could seem less unappetizing! Listed below are the texts for my first semester.
Civil Procedure: Cases and Materials, Ninth Edition by Jack H. Friedenthal, Arthur R. Miller, John E. Sexton, Helen Hershkoff
2005 Civil Procedure Supplement by Jack H. Friedenthal, Arthur R. Miller, John E. Sexton, Helen Hershkoff
Civil Procedure: Examples & Explanations, Fourth Edition by Joseph W. Glannon
The Glannon Guide to Civil Procedure: Learning Civil Procedure through Multiple-Choice Questions and Analysis by Joseph P. Glannon
Understanding Criminal Law, Third Edition by Joshua Dressler
Criminal Law and Its Processes: Cases and Materials, Seventh Edition by Sanford H. Kadish and Stephen J. Schulhofer
Cases, Problems, and Materials on Contracts, Fourth Edition by Thomas D. Crandall and Douglas J. Whaley
In case you have been counting, the total for 2005 is 153 … next year’s pace will probably be quite a bit slower due to pressing personal, professional and scholastic pursuits!
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“If anyone can show me, and prove to me, that I am wrong in thought or deed, I will gladly change. I seek the truth, which never yet hurt anybody. It is only persistence in self-delusion and ignorance which does harm.”
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