brrr!
Here we are definitely experiencing a chill which encourages one to curl up with a long epic novel, a warm blanket, and a cup of tea with a side of purring kitten. BRRR! I have things which are keeping me from 3/4 of those items right now but I do have two short reviews to post this week.
Making Your Case: The Art of Persuading Judges
by Antonin Scalia
Disclaimer: I am not an attorney, however, I am employed by a law firm. Among my many tasks, I am their librarian, a role I begged to hold despite not having all the official alphabet soup most legal librarians possess. The following review is mine and my thoughts and opinions alone (as they all are).
Late last year I saw announcements of this title in various publications. While reviewing my 2009 budget and various reviews to see the benefit of this book to our shelves an associate requested it, greatly simplifying my approval process. However, I purchased it with one condition: I could read it first.
I struggle with my words, both on the page and orally. I practice and do not see significant improvement. I need constant reminders and sometimes a slightly self-help but very much traditional title will catch my eye and help.
I found Making Your Case to be in the spirit of Elements of Style with enough industry specific interest to keep my attorneys engaged and enough common sense that anyone would gain from reading this title. It also has provided some ideas for how I can help my Firm out in other aspects of their practice.
The layout is crisp and concise with numbered points, bold-face topic headings, quote blocks, and enough footnotes to thrill me.
If you need to persuade anyone I believe that you can benefit from the points raised in this book.
Please remember, to just read this book will not result in immediate improvement of your words.
As was mentioned within the text, you need to practice and to read in the style you want to write.
Now to wait for it to cycle through the Firm so I can reread it.
In the Land of Invented Languages: Esperanto Rock Stars, Klingon Poets, Loglan Lovers, and The Mad Dreamers Who Tried to Build A Perfect Language
by Arika Okrent
There were quite a few little tidbits within Okrent’s book that this once-upon-a-time-wannabe linguist (hmm what does that make me now?) found both educational and interesting. I mostly enjoyed many morsels which humanitized the con-languages: I learned about Bliss as a person and who attends Esperanto congresses. Despite these fascinating snippets, as a book of 288 pages, I found it too disjointed.
Dragonheart: Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern
by Todd J. McCaffrey