Fletcher Books

My sister warned me not to read it, but i did anyway. It was like reading a badly written soap opera. It was not at all what i expected from the book.

As a Barbara Taylor Bradford fan, I have long awaited the arrival of her newest book, and when it did come, I realized it was worth the wait! Despite what the some of the other reviews have said, I would encourage anyone to buy it. It is truly a work of art. She show her all-roundeness and creative skills in this book, as the main characters go through almost everything possible! And it is seen that she has gone through a lot of work as seen with her writing on the Holocaust and the Nazi victims. Well done Barabra!

I have just finished reading this book and throughly enjoyed it, it is not often that I am reduced to tears by a book but this one did. It has a interesting storyline and is an easy book to read.

I keep borrowing BTB books from the library (won't pay for this) hoping she'll get better - and she only gets worse! This story has holes you could drive a truck through. The characters are flat, the action non-existent. It's bad! BAD! BAD!
Spoiler warning - two quick examples. The entire story is based on two children ages 5 and 10, being best friends. Ain't goona happen. And, in one crucial scene, two dying women are found shot on the floor, and their rescuer(?) calls an ambulance, then makes a pot of tea and sits there for 30 minutes. Does anyone in her world know first aid?!
Do not buy this book. Do not read it.

I've read most of BTB's books. When I'm done with them, I donate them or sell them. But to me "A Sudden Change of Heart" was one of her best and I'm keeping it.

Even though I agree with some of the other readers, that the "language" the characters spoke was a bit antiquated and formal, I really enjoyed the book.

I was at a doctor's appointment today, and I started to tear while I was reading what happened to Claire. I had to stop for awhile.

The friendship between Laura and Claire is very much alike to my best friend and me. We've known each other since we're 5 & 6 - and we'll be celebrating our 30th anniversary next year - so this kind of friendship does exist.

Don't be afraid to buy this book. Try it, you may like it!

Notorious for his attempts to be different, Fletcher succeeds in this book. Utterly disappointing and entirely uninsightful. One expects much more from a Columbia Law School "scholar" but is left unsatisfied as so often is the case with Fletcher. Better legal insights from the Bernhard Goetz trial could be had from reading old newspaper articles.

This book utterly disappointing and uninsightful. One would expect more from a "scholar" who sat in on the trial. Unfortunately, as is too often the case, Fletcher fails to measure up.

For days after four punks tried to intimidate a fellow passenger on a New York subway train into giving them money, only to discover that they had an excitable minor-league Rambo on their hands, my western New York hometown buzzed with all sorts of condemnation of this man. This was of course influenced by the liberal media calling Goetz "The Subway Vigilante". Never mind that the term "vigilante" really applies to lynch mob situations where a posse not sanctioned by the law goes out and murders someone they consider guilty of a crime. It does not mean the actual would-be crime victim who's already in the crosshairs and as far as he knows has only seconds to live if he doesn't act p.d.q. But my neighbors and acquaintances were brainwashed (we all were to some extent) into thinking that street punks were themselves victims of a hostile and uncaring society. They were only kids and had the standard adolescent schoolboy machismo, so they were only fooling around. Plus, Goetz has a very German name, so everyone branded him with a mental swastika. I think it was at that point that society tried and convicted Goetz in their own hearts as a cold-blooded slayer of four young kids. Never mind that none of us had been on that subway train ourselves, urban mass transit being a hunting ground for human predators the world over. The legacy of those days, when public opinion was beginning to run towards cutting "the disadvantaged" as much slack as possible, has over two sorry decades come to its fruition. The only times I ever rode a New York subway were well before those day, and I wouldn't send my worst enemy down into one today. I tend to stay out of hard-core urban areas period, sticking to the 'burbs and rural areas, where law and order hasn't yet completely collapsed.

The book is "Utterly disappointing and entirely uninsightful." Much better hard information on the Goetz case can be found at Wikipedia.com and in a juror's book "Subway Gunman."

....

Anyway, I checked this book out at the library about a year ago. I chose it because (a) as a libertarian, I am interested in the legal right to self-defense, and (b) I was, and still am, planning to go to law school. What struck me is that the book is far more than just an account of the Goetz trial. Fletcher uses the issues raised by the trial as a springboard for exploring deeper issues. For example, are there limits to the scope of preventive, or "prophylactic," laws? (Anti-gun laws are preventive laws.) Here is Fletcher describing the rationale for so-called prophylactic laws:

"Possession offences do not prohibit wrongful deeds. Rather they regulate
behavior so that people never reach the stage of using the prohibited
article in a harmful or wrongful way. There is nothing per se immoral or
wicked about a single instance of possessing narcotics, guns, or counterfeit
plates. But it might be better for society as a whole to eliminate
these articles from circulation. Possession offenses are addressed
not to the single incident, but to the entire class of problematic
events....Lawyers express regulatory purpose of possession offenses by
referring to them as 'prophylactic offenses.'"

While writing an essay on child pornography laws about a month after reading Fletcher's book, I found myself thinking back to the above passage. I realized that laws prohibiting the possession of child pornography are prophylactic. I ended up using the excerpt in my essay.

Fletcher also introduces the reader to the Model Penal Code. Written in 1962 by lawyers and legal scholars, this project was an attempt to codify the criminal codes of all 50 states, along with the U.S. criminal code and that of Washington D.C., into one code. Yet with the competing influence of statutes, common law tradition, ever-changing case law, today's criminal law is anything but simple. Fletcher explains how the legal issues got so complex that, on at least two occasions, both the prosecutor and the defense lawyer got confused about their own strategies.

To sum up, Fletcher's book is, as the cover blurb claims, like an "education in criminal law and virtually a law school education in itself." In fact, the whole reason I looked up the book on Amazon.com is that I plan to buy it so that I have my own copy. Several times, while thinking about some moral or legal issue, I've thought, "Didn't that book about Bernhard Goetz have something to say about this concept?"

In contrast to the empty criticisms of the other two reviewers -- notice that their reviews give no examples, are too brief, and have an ad hominem flavor -- this book won the Silver Gavel Award from the American Bar Association and received critical acclaim. It deserved all the praise it got. If you have any interest in the Goetz case, you'll find this book an interesting read. If you have any interest in law and legal philosophy, or you're just curious about how lawyers and judges think, you'll *love* this book. If you're having a career crisis and are of an intellectual bent, Fletcher's book might even get you fantasizing about law school.

George Fletcher, Basic Concepts of Legal Thought. 1996 [205pp]
This book disappointed me more due to my expectations than to its lack of merit. It is not a good book overall: the table of contents suggests more control in the structure than appears and the selection of topics was miscellaneous and rather too frequently referred to previous publications of the author, and the ideas were not sufficiently digested by the author. I was misled by the title to think I would learn (as I need to) something about the "legal" topics listed. But the goal of the book was really to make "philosophical" comment on several issues of interest to him that are related to the law. The miscellaneous feel of the structure and discussion made me guess that the contents might have been fragments from other books that did not make it, or articles/presentations that were never published, but here collected rather incongrously under the title. A fascinating aspect of the book is the frequent recourse to comparisons among several languages (especially German) as a way of making coordinates on a specific idea in English. This gave me a new insight into the Law/"Right" distinction. Another delightful and unusual aspect was the frequent reference to Jewish and even Talmudic legal thought. I think that the sources of law in Talmudic and [Roman Catholic] Canon Laws are too much neglected. Although the author's biases and emotions sometimes poke through (as when he refers to surrogate mother contracts as "evil"), he mainly writes within the accepted limits of academic correctness. This will satisfy a Democratic Party reader, despite his general tendancy to put conservative (Jewish?) attitudes in a favourable light. I learned a few things from the book: some about the nature of law (which was my main purpose in preparation for reading on the US Constitution) and about personalities in the field (including how some philosophy personalities may be seen as contributing). The list of personalities in the back is a good feature. [I probably need a Companion to the Law] But generally the philosphical discussion was either too arcane or too simple; I had a sense that I had heard most of the arguments or at least issues discussed before in general conversation. At least for my present purposes, it was barely worth continuing through to the end. And for larger legal education, it was still thin soup. I am still looking for a good intro to the Basic Concepts of Legal Thought.

Prof. Fletcher's stated purpose for this book -- a "slim volume" that would introduce students to the basic theories in jurisprudence (aka philosophy of law) -- is an excellent one. Unfortunately, the final product does not do a very good job. It's not clear why Fletcher chose the topics he did (the selection appears to be fairly personal), and throughout he seems to slide back and forth, often silently, between a description of the major lines of thought on a topic and advocacy of his own view of how we ought to think. His style is also a bit sloppy, leaving holes in his reasoning that even a casual reader will see. Not recommended.

book arrived quickly and in the condition stated. i'd buy again.

I found the approach this book takes to teaching law doctrine to first-year law students completely wrong-headed. The author seems to think he's taking a more realistic or practical approach than most textbook authors, but ultimately the most obvious result is a lack of clarity. Easily the least helpful book I had to use my first year on any subject. If you are forced to purchase this book, or some other edition of this book, I recommend getting something to supplement it.

The Armageddon guide may seem intimidating and interesting due to the number of pages it's toting - but do not be fooled.

I had the chance to check this guide out at a local Walmart and after looking through the information - I couldn't buy it. Now, before you question me - I have been an MK fan since MKI, and the recent streaming of guides has been horrible. From bad to worse, and this one takes the cake.

In the middle of the information, the authors decide to randomly throw in UMK3 strategies. This is an MKA guide, not UMK3. It completely throws off the flow of information the guide gives. This however, is not the worst of it.

The Deception guide at least featured all of the character renders, aside from Liu Kang. This guide does not. You'd think with the page count, new renders and the character's accurate story would greet you - however, it doesn't. There are some renders for characters - again, some. However, it's reused from Mortal Kombat Deception, and Shaolin Monks.

There are little to no screen shots, no pictures of the fatalities, there's no mention of the Vault, and the guide's overall composition is horrible. If you bought the Deception guide and knew why it was so horrible, get ready for another horrible guide.

Do not buy this Guide. Your best bet is to contact their customer Service and tell them to just recall it and do it over - much like Brady did with their MKD guide and released a special Code Book.

One Star.

This book was nice. It had a comprehensive walkthrough of the Konquest Mode and had tips for Motor Kombat. It had maps of every fighting stage in the game and explained all the death traps in each very thoroughly. It talked about Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 because the Armageddon premium edition lets you play that game as one of its special features. This book has an unlocking guide and complete move lists. Some of the pictures of moves are flip flopped around but that was the only thing. About renders, does a book really need good renders to be good? Overall, the book really halped me because it pinpointed all the best combos for every character in the game giving you a percentage of health that it takes. This is an excellent resource!

The worse book ever as far as a guide book goes. But what can you expect from prima? They should not be in busines. Don't buy it. You will waste your money.

I'm not sure what the other reviewer is griping about, or even why. The only thing I can figure is that he must work for one of the other guide publishers, and is crusading to make his brand look better or something.

I have bought and used several guides made by Prima, and they are just the same as other guides made by other publishers (Brady Games, Nintendo Power, . . .). Like every guide ever made, this one has the usual sections - plot synopsis, character and weapon overviews, strategic walkthrough, and even strategies for the co-op and multi-player arena parts of the game. Prima was even nice enough to include a graphic short-story set in the Perfect Dark universe.

So just ignore the last person that reviewed this book - it's like they were expecting the guide to play the game for them or something. To that reviewer: get real and get a life - if you don't want to put the effort into a game that's required to finish it, don't buy it; and don't blame a completely satisfactory guide for your shortcomings.

To people interested in buying this guide: this will not disappoint - whether you're looking for tips on getting through a mission you're stuck on, or just want to learn more about the weapons and characters of PDZ, this guide's got everything you could possibly need. Just don't expect it to beat the game 100% perfect for you, like that other bozo.

gave me the edge to beat the game but could have had a lot more info.

I used Prima's guide for Ghost Recon: Island Thunder and found it an invaluable resource in getting through the tough spots of that game. So naturally when I picked up Advanced Warfighter for Xbox, I got the Prima guide too.

What a disappointment. There is absolutely no useful information contained in this book to help you get through the game. None. How the authors manage to ramble on and on for dozens of pages with dozens of pretty screen shots and tell you nothing useful is beyond me.

Of course, I can only speak confidently of my experience with the Xbox portions of this guide. Maybe if you have an Xbox 360, that portion of the guide actually is helpful (that wouldn't surprise me). My recommendation for Xbox players is to enjoy GRAW (it's awesome) but don't bother with the guide. Xbox 360 players, judge for yourselves.

What happened to the part where Pinocchio's nose grows ? ( Not even mentioned in this version. ) Might leave my grandaughter wondering if I may have told a fib .....

Totally left out the part about Pinocchio's nose growing. Now my grandaughter wonders if I may have told a fib ....

this book, although i liked the movie, i didnt really care for the book, because it doesnt interest me as much as the movie, although the characters are the same, and the book is told the same,it just doesnt help me picture the action, like the movie does

Very disappointed. I ordered this movie for a birthday that has come and gone. I still don't have the movie. I can't seem to find an 800 number to call to check up on it. I sent the seller an email asking for his help in expediting it to me. I never heard anything. Very, very disappointed.

I bought this book to teach my children about honesty since Pinocchio's nose grows every time he lies.... Or so I thought. There is not one mention of lying or his nose growing anywhere in the book, so the purpose of my purchase was lost. Instead, it goes on about other parts of the pinocchio story. A nice story, but if you are looking to teach children about values, honesty and lying, this is not the right book for you.

My fiancée and I decided to get a copy of Bartlett's Words for the Wedding because we were having trouble finding an interesting reading for our ceremony and were getting tired of pouring over our favorite novels and poetry collections. This collection seemed like a good answer. Unfortunately it's really not.

The vast majority of the selections included are cheesy and, even worse, hackneyed poems from the like of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Shakespeare... all the usual suspects. Quite literally nothing that couldn't easily be found elsewhere for free. I gave the book two stars only because I thought it might be useful for a wedding planner to loan out to a particularly baffled client as a sort of "Wedding Standards."

If you're looking for anything new or unique, this isn't the book for you.

I tried to like this book-- the theme was interesting enough. But in the end it was too theater-y and the main character just didn't have enough bite. Too bad.