Reviews Books

This book is one of the most useful tools you can buy to help you succeed in law school. Sure, there are plenty of study guides and study aids out there for law school - teaching you the ins-and-outs of proximate causation, useless stuff like the meaning of "possibility of reverter," and how to say if a statement is hearsay. But success in law school involves much more than getting good grades in Contracts, Property, or Evidence. The key to distinguish yourself in law school (and immediately after) is your writing ability: Are you on law review? Have you written a note/article worthy of being published? Do you have a stellar writing sample for that clerkship application? Until this book, there was not a practical guide teaching academic legal writing. Every 1L should buy this book and read it before they attempt to take a seminar class or write a law review note. It will make a difference.

My only complaint about Prof. Volokh's book is that it was not available until my last year of law school. Had it been published earlier, its lessons would have drastically improved my seminar papers and law review note. But if you're like me and no longer in law school, still check this book out. It isn't solely for law students. It is an extremely useful guide for new attorneys who hope to write publishable articles after law school.

To borrow from the "give a man a fish...teach a man to fish" cliché (and thus horribly violate a lesson of Chapter 4), Prof. Volokh teaches law students and lawyers to "fish" by showing them how to write their own scholarly works.

If you're writing a law review comment, Eugene Volokh's slim volume "Academic Legal Writing" is indispensible. However, anyone who wants to learn how to write clearly and how to cut the fat from their prose will benefit tremendously from the book as well. Especially good are the sections where Volokh takes you step-by-step through the editing process, turning a flabby piece of writing into economical, muscular prose. His appendix of words to avoid (eschew "eschew") is also excellent. So don't be fooled by the title. Good writing is good writing, in the legal academy and elsewhere. This is a book about good writing in general, and a terrific one at that.

I highly recommend Professor Volokh's new book, Academic Legal Writing: Law Review Articles, Student Notes, and Seminar Papers.

As the title suggests, it focuses primarily on legal writing, especially for aspiring and current law school students. However, anyone who wants to improve his/her writing and critical thinking skills should read this book. The book--which is only 189 pages--abounds in smart advice on how to write better and avoid common errors such as wordiness, unduly harsh criticism, overly technical language, etc.

Speaking as someone who starts law school in a month and a half, I am glad I read this book. It gave me a nice view about what type of writing is expected in law school. And unlike some academic books, it is affordable and highly readable.

Volokh addresses every possible question that a pre-law student could have about academic legal writing--how to choose a topic, how to test its claim or hypothesis, how to research it, how to use evidence (i.e., cases, law review articles, statistics, surveys, etc) correctly, and how even to publish and market your work.

To take one example: Volokh advises that in the process of conducting research always check the original source. In other words, do not simply assume that a secondary source will correctly represent the original article or case. For example, even the most revered Courts (such as the Supreme Court of the United States) sometimes misstate facts, arguments, and holdings in cases.

I can personally attest to the soundness of this advice. I once cited an article by a political science professor of mine in a paper I wrote for him. I relied on a secondary source to summarize his main thesis. When my professor graded the paper, he circled in red ink the citation of his work and wrote, This is not the argument I made. Did you bother to read the article?

Again, this is a great book for anyone considering law school. It should be on every pre-law student's must-read list.

I teach undergraduates, many of whom want to be law students. Sometimes I help them get started on legal writing.

Since the day I read Volokh's book, I have not sent a student off to law school without it. Given the amount of writing that is required of any law student, and given the substantial career advantages to publishing, everyone should try.

Volokh is clear and very usefully organized for students who have to parse their time carefully. He includes insights about the practicalities of law review publishing and shopping an article that go far beyond anything available when I was a law student.

This book is also a great tool for graduate students in fields akin to law. To those students, refereed journals are the norm and law review publication is a mystery. This book is an excellent, readable way to make law reviews less mysterious.

Eugene Volokh is a genius--well, maybe not a genius--almost nobody is a genius--but he's pretty darn smart.

Tender and true. I hated hated hated for it to end.

This book is better than J.R. Moehringer's The Tender Bar and the The Tender Bar is a near perfect Memoir. Here is the difference. With Moehringer, like Crandell, you are getting a story that will change you, but with Crandell's The All-American Industrial Motel you are right there beside Doug, hearing what he is hearing, seeing what he sees, and trying to breathe like Doug is trying to breathe. Chapter 18, is one of the best chapters in modern literature. Those who need this book the most, men twenty-six to forty, the Gen Xer's, whose confusion and raw votes led us to the America we have today--the killing--will try to say Crandell's account of finding your life in the Reagan Years and it's black greed wake, doesn't apply. But a few oh so lucky ones will know they have finally found the salve. While they didn't grow up in the forsaken tornado flatland of Northern Indiana, they still struggled and are still struggling with everything Doug Crandell has been so brave to share. Crandell has raised the shades men. It's time to give up the Kettle One. Put the Red Bull and Jaeger back on the shelf men and pick up Crandell's All-American Industrial Motel. Those products were meant for someone else your same age, not you. You are the son of your own father. Thank you Doug Crandell.

This exquisite Memoir will split your heart in two and you will wonder how you had survived with just the one before. The union workers in The All-American Industrial Motel are men I have known and loved my whole life. Their lives are as true as the story Doug tells of his awesome summer in Indiana working in the ceiling tile factory with them and it has taken me three quiet days to gain sufficient perspective from the book to write about it. It is that piercing, that honest, the voices so vulnerable that the reader is raw from the connection.
Doug Crandell writes to us so much of himself and of so much love and respect for his family that you want at once to hide in the life you've made, safe from the hurt of having left, all the while longing to be there again soaking up all the intricacies of family.
To real work, real love and real risk the author pays homage and I am grateful to have been in the audience for such bravery!

My Top Ten list of American writers changes with my mood and interests. The list is populated by Sherwood Anderson, David James Duncan, Ezra Pound (not from Europe, but from Idaho actually!), Steinbeck, Tennessee Williams, Delillo, O'Connor, et al. But, with his earlier work, PigBoy, Doug Crandell leapt onto the list, and his place is cemented by his latest memoir, The All-American Industrial Motel. The story is tender and frightening in the way that secrets between fathers and sons can be: the truth you both know but don't dare speak. The book is funny, heart-felt, and strangely riveting. Having had more minimum-wage jobs than I care to recall, where I was the college boy amongst the blue-collars, relating to this story, and the thick atmosphere of the factory culture, is comforting in the way that sleep is after pulling a double shift.

Crandell reveals enough herein to make one nervous with an anticipation of future events that other authors could never wring from common lives. This is the author's gift: making the melancholy struggle of mid-west lives seem more important than those we read of in the tabloids. And of course, they are. Thanks Doug for a great book!

Like his first memoir, Pig Boy's Wicked Bird, the All-American Industrial Motel takes place during one pivotal year in Doug Crandell's life. In this new memoir, the year is 1990 and Crandell is one class away from college graduation and is working at a factory in Indiana along with his father. The farm is gone, and his family has been facing tough times. The tension within the family at this point is volatile, and Crandell's deteriorating relationship with his father is described in fantastic detail. Crandell finds an escape in his friendship with Jerry, a rough co-worker who he's known most of his life but has only befriended during his time in the factory. His ordeal is heart-wrenching as he tries get his father to open up emotionally and balances whether he should just leave with his degree or stay and become a "lifer" at the factory as he watches those who have taken this path. The book may seem bleak, but you will not be able to put it down. You feel a connection with Crandell, and will find yourself drawn in by the people who he befriends in the factory. You will also find yourself frustrated by Crandell's own frustrations and his family's bad decisions. Crandell is a writer of extraordinary ability, a wordsmith which you should not dismiss.

I think it's very funny that she doesn't waste paper by diving right in with tips and doesn't bother to space out paragraphs. I actually like this more than Tightwad Gazette which tries not to be too preachy. Not Mrs. Childs, she's my kind of charismatic and she's preaching to the choir! I wish I lived as frugally as I should but this book is wonderfully bracing. Her analysis of consumerism still applies today.

The thoughts and ideas of the 1800's could be applied to todays world to make it a better place. Like putting more energy into our morals and pride rather than trying to keep up with the Jones'. A wonderfull and funny look at many things that have gone wrong with society over the years.
I read just a few pages in a little store, than had to come home and find it to buy for myself.

Both the prose and the basic philosophy espoused by this book are refreshing on todays palate. No over-wrought writing or get ahead mentality here. The book gives a wonderful view of household life in the 1800's, covering ground from pudding recipes to the best and cheapenst method for cleaning your candle stick holders and treating common ailments. Liberally spiced with the philosophy of a frugal housewife who's example many of us would do well to follow.

I bought this book at a Revolutionar War event this past weekend and I've read it 3 times already (Purchased Sunday, and it's now Tuesday morning). My husband can't believe that I can't put this down. But I find it fascinating reading. Many of the little tips in here are still on many websites today for frugal living (olive oil and a little white vinegar for a wood furniture polish, for example).

Easy and fascinating reading for anyone interested in history, frugal living, and occassionaly a good laugh.

I got this book over 10 years ago, at the Sturbridge Village gift shop, and I swear, I've read it so much that I probably have whole sections memorized! It is, without doubt, THE best book of its kind.

The American Frugal Housewife is fascinating on a variety of levels, not the least in that Child wrote the book with the emphasis on "AMERICAN." Other such books existed at the time, but they were written in England and for English women. Child was one of the Transcendentalists who were huge advocates of personal self-discipline and restraint, but believed to their core the importance of fighting for what they knew to be right. It wasn't just a religious fervor -although Child's Christianity, like that of Catherine and Harriet Beecher Stowe, was extremely important - but a belief that the still relatively new United States had a unique destiny that set it apart from the rest of the world, specifically the old, decrepit world that was Europe.

Child was no blindfolded nationalist, however. She saw the flaws and contradictions that bound the new Republic. Child, like many other Transcendentalists, was a fervent abolitionist and a proponent of women's equality, and worked all her life toward achieving those ends. Even with its problems, Child was an ardent American. She saw Americans as a unique race of people with a unique and powerful destiny. Americans, she believed, were new and unique, and that the American destiny was far different from the degenerate, rotting hulk of Old World Europe.

So what does all this have to do with the American Frugal Housewife? Well, Child wrote the book specifically to address AMERICAN houswives and what she knew to be their unique problems and issues. It's much more than just a recipe book; it embodies Child's philosophy that the only way toward virtue was self-restraint and sobriety, and that the way to tutor the new nation in these values was by teaching the nation's housewives - the hand that rocks the cradle, Child believed, did indeed rule the world.

The new nation was becoming prosperous, and Child saw that then, like now, people had a difficult time learning how to restrain themselves financially. One part in particular has to do with how mothers should raise their daughters. Child believed they should teach their offspring the virtues of frugality, that it was better to put savings "out at interest" and earn wealth from it, then to indulge in the latest fad - one in this case being something called a Brussels carpet. As new brides went out to set up their household, Child lectures at how they drive their husbands to bankruptcy by embracing fads and trying to keep up with the Joneses.

Other, cheaper types of carpet "will answer just as well," Child wrote. She also recommends using cheap illustrations, nicely framed, as wall art, rather than going overboard to buy the latest European style.

Some of the best sections are on frugality. Child was the "Hints from Heloise" queen of her day, and she's got a solution for everything that could possibly beset the early 19th century housewife. The interesting thing, as others have noted, is how so many of her tips still work so well.

I don't know that I'm ever going to need her instructions on how to brew my own soap in a backyard kettle or how to keep my homemade pickles in a barrel from turning soft, but I did get a burn mark out of an antique chest by using rottenstone and oil, just as she prescribed.

What's rottenstone, you ask? Well, you can buy it at a hardware store, but if you want the recipe, buy the book! It's a fantastic window on early American life, but the sound advice inside, about not getting into debt and how to "do up" your brass so it doesn't tarnish, is still amazingly useful.

I guarantee you'll become a Child fan, just like me! :)

So what if it's $45? This study guide focuses on what you need to know and gives you a very good idea of what's going to be on the exams. It's more than worth the money!

As a pre-nursing student, the competition is fierce to get into a program. When I first received these study guides I thought I had paid way too much for what I got and thought the material simplistic. What I found is that 25% to 35% of my test questions were very close to the examples given. If you are a serious student, these guides are another tool in your total study regime. They are not intended to be your ONLY source of study and review. There are no easy ways to learn the Sciences, but these focus on some of the commonly tested areas. I wanted all the resources I could find and it paid off with A's.

I found this book to be very helpful, especially when used with Volume I. I quizzed myself with his questions and answers after I read a chapter, and usually found that I didn't understand a section deeply enough. I'd much rather get questions wrong before the test than during! Many of the questions on the test were very similar to his questions. I'd recommend this Volume & also Volume 1 if you are looking for good grades for A&P. You can't do wrong by learning from a former professor of A&P!

I found this book to be great for helping me get an "A" in my anatomy and physiology class in college. It's to the point and focused on key topics. It helped me focus on the type of questions that my teacher asked on my final. Thanks Dr. Leonardi for writing this book. This book is a must buy for any undergraduate A and P student, massage therapy student, or anyone wanting to know more about anatomy and physiology. I also used Volume 1 (ISBN: 0971999619) also sold on amazon. Both books helped me to get excellent grades in my A and P class.

I think this book was the difference between an A and a B. I liked that it was quick, to the point and relevant.

I receipt the book very quikly and in excelent conditios of use, as a new book.

A dear friend gave me this book for my ninth birthday back in 1990. Today, I am a structural engineering associate with a major forensic engineering firm, and I know that much of my fascination with the field began with Salvadori's riveting explanations of the basic principles of structural design. This book is incredible for any kid with any scientific inclination!

I've been rereading this lately. This morning I showed everybody in the restaurant where I was eating the book saying, "if this had been around when I was in middle school or junior high, I expect that I would be an architect or structural engineer now.

For a person who wonders why a bridge is shaped the way it is, or why buildings lean and don't fall, this is an ideal introduction. Useful for anyone interested in structures (e.g. model railroad truss work, furniture design, etc.) and would be very good for a student interested in civil or construction engineering as a future career.

i love this book! it truly explains why buildings behave the way they do and why they are built the way they are. it takes complicated engineeriing and makes it simple, very simple. every principle has an easy to follow sketch and example. this book is a must for architects, engineers, builders or anyone who wants to go behind the scenes and understand the 'why' of buildings. many of the principles and examples only apply to large scale commercial projects like high rises and bridges, so it may not be pertinent for the home builder, but i'd still recommend it. i love to understand why i build houses a certain way. this book explains basic building principles.

Dr. Bedell's poetry is what inspires me to be a proud Louisianian and writer. I am a bit biased since I personally know Dr. Bedell, but his poems really do "speak" to me. This book and anything else by Jack Bedell is well worth the buy.

Dr. Bedell's poetry is what inspires me to be a proud Louisianian and writer. I am a bit biased since I personally know Dr. Bedell, but his poems really do "speak" to me. This book and anything else by Jack Bedell is well worth the buy.

This book is full of engaging, accurate stories that bring to life the culture and landscape of south Louisiana. Bedell knows exactly when to pull back and let the story tell itself; he never forces preconceived or contrived emotions on the reader. Like it says on the book, I'd buy one and send one to a friend...

It is easy to forget the beauty and richness that real life - real people have to offer. Jack brings the reader home with him, offering beauty and reality with the wonderful trip.

Jack Bedell's "At the Bonehouse" takes me back to a time and place in which i had forgotten. Many of us do not absorb the surroundings captured in his work. I have learned to not take life for granted because it is all beautiful. As a teacher, writer, editor and friend, Jack shares his view of life with us willingly. His work has greatly influenced my own writing in poetry and also fiction. In my eyes Jack Bedell is a mentor and he should be for all other aspiring poet's.

I've really been enjoying this book, ten minutes at a time. It explains the rules (I'm not sure I had realized there were any)behind the action, and includes capsule looks at number of bots I've seen locked in the box. The author talks about the costs of some bots, the time involved in designing them, and the number of upgrades they've gone through. I suggest this book for any fan of the TV show or the sport.

Fun book, lots of great pix, and a spread on my favorite robot: Dr. Inferno, Jr. What's not to love?

If you or someone you know likes BattleBots, Robotica, or Robot Wars, this is a great book. It has tons of high quality still and action photos. It also has great descriptions and pictures of famous bots and bio's of their builders. Find out how much your favorite BattleBot cost or how long it took to build! The book also has basic instructions on how to build a bot plus simple examples of different design types. It also has the Win-Loss record plus stats (like # of Knock-outs) for every bot. This book has something for everyone. It has enough "meat" to it that die-hard fans will love it and the photos and stats will keep even young kids engaged.

This glossy coffee table book is packed with photos, robot CAD drawings and a thorough history of the BattleBots competition. The abundant photos, in depth builder and robot profiles and stylized design caputres the real spirit of BattleBots. I love the chapter on "How to Build a Bot"- the step by step tutorial and comparison of materials provides solid advice to newbie builders like me. It is the best book on robotic combat I have ever seen. A must for all robot enthusiasts.

Great book! The history and the personalities behind Battlebots are really interesting. The machines are given the level of attention you always wanted to get on the show. Great looking too. Put it on you coffee table; guests will actually pick it up (and spend half an hour with it!).

What stories The Bluebook can tell! Winding up late Friday evening, knowing that a Petition for Appeal is due on Monday. Putting in sixteen hours on Saturday, only to be devastated by the realization that one is less than one-quarter through. Putting in another sixteen hours on Sunday, with only a very rough draft in hand at midnight. Getting into work early Monday morning, to begin another eighty-hour week... so very, very blue.

Let's be honest. A lot of people felt that Bluebook had fallen off. After that award show confrontation with ALWD and the concealed weapons charges, Bluebook looked like they were on the ropes. That only makes this 18th edition more triumphant for the Bluebook. A stunning return to the form that made them such an irresistible bunch of ragamuffins to begin with, Bluebook has a sure answer to the naysayers who thought they couldn't adapt to the electronic movement--a blistering tribute to Internet citation.

For anyone interested in their new "harder" sound, the blue practitioner pages don't disappoint. Meanwhile the smooth, sculptural rhythms of "cases in textual sentences" will leave a smile on your face.

Overall, the soothing melodies of this consistently powerful album are ideal for any mood, whether it be insomnia or deadline adrenaline rushes. And let's be honest, it's the Bluebook. You're going to buy it. As another reviewer observed: buy it, don't download it off the internet! The artists really deserve our support.

Forget the New York Times bestseller list! Out of the anals of human history comes a book so compelling, so emotional, so all encompassing, that it defies description. On a level with "Great Expectations," mere words cannot describe its insightful witticisms ("Go forth and construe")("To interplead is human, to demur...devine"), its quaint conundrums ("To quash or not to quash, that is the interlocutory question"), its prophetic wisdom ("a footnote, in the right format, is worth a thousand words"), and yet its ultimate tragedy ("As you shall sow, so shall you replevin"). No true literary scholar should be without their own copy. Why wait for law school when you can own your copy today!

Mom & Dad, buy this book and a Black's Law Dictionary for your law student- to-be. If you buy anything when you go to law school, buy this. Current attorneys should own a copy; paralegals need to memorize it. I would never put pen to paper and write anything without this book by my side. It is a complete and easy to use reference guide. A time and grade saver for law students accross the nation.

Research and writing guides for the academic community (and the legal community in this case), don't come much more direct and no-nonsense than this. The Bluebook doesn't mess around with cheesy tips on how to write or structure a paper, which are useless puffery in other style guides that are merely there to add space and cost. The Bluebook lays out the highly complex requirements of the style in an easy-to-follow format, with useful examples for all (or most) possible sources, from standard newspaper articles to sections of foreign constitutions. The book ably provides what you need to write a properly-cited paper for the legal academic world, with no need to waste your time slogging through the filler of a typical style guide. The only problem is that the Bluebook is not quite adequate for beginners, even if they're fairly knowledgeable, because it assumes you're already familiar with the voluminous Latin terms and other arcane language of the legal realm. Basic introductions to some terms would certainly be an asset here, but eventually you'll have to buy a law dictionary anyway. [~doomsdayer520~]

Blueprints is a great review book for your third year rotations. It does not have too much detail, but enough so you know you've covered all of your bases. If you need more detail, you can always go to the web or to a textbook from the library.

I've only used med and peds so far, good questions in back in shelf/usmle format. Highly recommend for clinicals, only downside is med was a little thick to get through by the end of my rotation.

I really enjoyed reading the Blueprint series. These books are easy to read and give you a great overview over each topic. The more motivated student might feel that some subject is not very deeply covered. Still the essentials you need to know are there. In general USMLE don't ask beyond that. Illustration are excellent and extremly helpful. Also a quick summery with key points helps you to keep important things in mind. In addition the question section is very helpful to estimate your level of knowlege. Overall a series very concisely written, consistent and very good in terms of didactics. Recommended especially for foreign medical graduates.

The Blueprints series in combination with UCV, first aid step 2, NMS question helped me ace step 2 and make a score in the high 90s. Must start with a sound step 1 base though. Highly recommended. Mastering the material is a must though.

I used Blueprints as my primary study guide during my third year of medical school for all rotations. They have all the information you need to know for shelf examinations. Really! I scored well above the 90th percentile on all shelf exams by diligently studying this series. A must have for clinical rotations.

Iowa Orthopaedics Resident

This is a thourough urology review, meanwhile contains contraversial aspects in your front.

This is indeed the best urological textbook, or better to call it the bible of urology , I can not wait for the next edition

If you need to know urology, then you need this set of book. This edition is set up very well. The 4 books make it easier to look up info. It covers all the major topics in urology and is as up to date as any book can be.

This book is the most extensive single source of urologic information available. It covers all basic aspects of urology in a fairly complete manner. The main drawbacks are:
1)Reference authors quoted directly in text. This makes the book fairly diffcult to read in a fluid manner and adds extra length to the already lengthy text. Gillenwater is a much more readble text.
2)Some chapters need a better overall framework. The best example of this is the chapter on adrenal pathology which does not provide a very good thorough to the asymptomatic adrenal mass, by far the most common adrenal problem.
3)Often excessive discussion regarding all the studies for and against an issue. I feel that it would be better to state that an issue is unresolved and then list some appropriate ways of attacking the problem.
4)Certain chapters are written in the 1st person. The chapter on the technique of radical retropubic prostatectomy is a personal account and not a reference chapter. MAny innovations from other centers are missing making this chapter somewhat biased.

Overall an excellent and authoratative view or urology

Medicine is obviously a rapidly evolving field and most medical texts receive a periodic retooling. All revisions should be as thorough and meaningful as the Seventh edition of Campbell's. The text has been sucessfully expanded where appropriate and each section further honed. Figures are elegant, pertinent, and well rendered. The references are all encompassing and as current as one can expect in a volume such as this. If there are any hesitations about updating from the sixth edition (which was also a vast improvement from the fifth) I hope to assuage them, encourage the reader and congratulate the authors.