4 comments about Shark Tales: True (and Amazing) Stories from America's Lawyers.

1. Lawyers don't have the reputation of being particularly funny. This comes from the requirement that lawyers maintain a stern or inscrutable demeanor when a witness splits his pants wide open leaving the witness stand. However in lawyer bars across the land, alone with our own kind( don't ask ), lawyers tell "war stories," collected here by Ron Liebman.

   Parts of this book, my own contribution excepted, are truly funny. Imagine the elder statesman of a major firm, addressing a gaggle of Japanese businessmen (prospective clients no less) in Tokyo, by reminiscing about the last time he had seen the city... from the air... as a World War II bomber pilot...or join the young lawyer trying his first case watching as a juror suddenly exits the jury box during his closing argument. Theyoung man's mouth might still be agape had not his more senior colleague rose to say "Personally Judge I didn't think he was that bad."

   OK, so Jay Leno is in no trouble here, but if you are at all curious about what we really talk about, Liebman let's you know.




2. This is a quick read, and some of the funny stories will make you chuckle -- if not laugh -- out loud. But, sadly, there is a lot of unfunny filler--tales of young lawyers whose representation of their trusting clients was poor indeed. Moreover, some of the material--the amusing excerpts from court and deposition transcripts--come from a book published by a court-reporter association ("Disorder in the Court") and have been on the internet rounds for so long that the excerpts have fairly heavy beards.

   Perhaps the most poignant selection, however, is the recollection by a South Carolina lawyer of his lawyer-father's observation that the more a thief stole the better he was treated by the court and the more lenient his punishment--ranging from the ... crook to the ... embezzler. That tale, of course, echoes, sadly, what the law is all about: summarized by Swift centuries ago when he said that the law was like a cobweb that ensnared small flies but let the hornets through.

   All in all, Shark Tales is worth the flitting moments of time it takes to read.




3. Thios book is one that has many entertaining stories, as well as some that are just plain insignificant and stupid. The author uses every story he could get his hands on that has some lement of humor ow interesting facts and puts it in the book. However, while many of the stories are outrageously funny, a majority are just filler.

   One aspect that made this book easy to read was that the book is composed of over 50 very short "tales" or stories about individual incidents. You can read a story and read another one a week later and you haven't missed anything. It is entertaining but not very informative.

   If you are looking for a fun and quick read, this book will help fulfill those needs. It does provide some insight into the behind the scenes of the legal profession. If you are looking for a real in-depth look at how lawyers work, this is not the book for you.

   An entertaining and casual read, but not very informative. Just three stars but a fun book.




4. This book is one that has many entertaining stories, as well as some that are just plain insignificant and stupid. The author uses every story he could get his hands on that has some element of humor or interesting facts and puts it in the book. However, while many of the stories are outrageously funny, a majority are just filler.

   One aspect that made this book easy to read was that the book is composed of over 50 very short "tales" or stories about individual incidents. This is why I refer to this book as a bathroom read. You can read a story and read another one a week later and you haven't missed anything. It is entertaining but not very informative.

   If you are looking for a fun and quick read, this book will help fulfill those needs. It does provide some insight into the behind the scenes of the legal profession. If you are looking for a real in-depth look at how lawyers work, this is not the book for you.

   An entertaining and casual read, but not very informative. Just three stars but a fun book.

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5 comments about Silent Justice: The Clarence Thomas Story.

1. In the foreword to his book, Washington writer John Greenya wryly recounts the disdain with which friends and other persons greeted the news that he was writing a biography of Justice Clarence Thomas. Much of this disgust came from political liberals, who already knew what they wished to know about Justice Thomas, and who cared naught about anything else. 'Tis a a pity, that closed minds are so prevalent in modern political Washington. In reality, Justice Thomas' story is an up-from-the-muck saga of a kid from rural Georgia who grew up speaking an Island dialect -- unsureness of speech is the chief reason he seldom asks questions during SCOTUS sessions -- and went through Yale, perhaps America's toughest law school. The value of Greenya's book is that he reports, rather than lectures, and one comes away from Silent Justice with a better understanding of a man condemned to carry into history the qualifier "the controversial Justice Thomas." Steve Weinberg, who reviewed Silent Justice for The Legal Times, concluded, "For potential readers who have already decided beyond all doubt that Thomas is either a hero or a villain, this book will be maddening. for potential readers who have strong opinions about Thomas but are willing to revise those opinions on the basis of new evidence, this book will be revalatory." Amen



2. In the foreword to his book, Washington writer John Greenya wryly recounts the disdain with which friends and other persons greeted the news that he was writing a biography of Justice Clarence Thomas. Much of this disgust came from political liberals, who already knew what they wished to know about Justice Thomas, and who cared naught about anything else. 'Tis a a pity, that closed minds are so prevalent in modern political Washington. In reality, Justice Thomas' story is an up-from-the-muck saga of a kid from rural Georgia who grew up speaking an Island dialect -- unsureness of speech is the chief reason he seldom asks questions during SCOTUS sessions -- and went through Yale, perhaps America's toughest law school. The value of Greenya's book is that he reports, rather than lectures, and one comes away from Silent Justice with a better understanding of a man condemned to carry into history the qualifier "the controversial Justice Thomas." Steve Weinberg, who reviewed Silent Justice for The Legal Times, concluded, "For potential readers who have already decided beyond all doubt that Thomas is either a hero or a villain, this book will be maddening. for potential readers who have strong opinions about Thomas but are willing to revise those opinions on the basis of new evidence, this book will be revalatory." Amen



3. Silent Justice is a fascinating account of the personal and political development of a man who now holds one of the most influential positions in our nation, a man about whom people have very strong feelings ranging from admiration and respect to outright disdain. Although I personally disagree with Justice Thomas's positions on many issues, a friend recommended this book because of its keen perceptions of the character of a man who has the potential to influence all of our lives for years to come. As it turned out, I enjoyed the book immensely.

   Silent Justice is an unusually unbiased account compared with much that has been written about Thomas. Although the book allowed me to draw my own conclusions, I found John Greenya's treatment of the ways in which Thomas's opinions and style changed from his college days and throughout his years at the Equal Employment Opportunities commission and on the Federal bench to be particularly interesting. In addition, the description of Thomas's early life and the culture he grew up in provides a necessary backdrop for understanding his later life. The skillful blending of Thomas's professional and personal struggles, as well as the author's insights into the special challenges inherent in being a black man functioning at the upper levels of society and government is part of what makes this book so interesting.

   I would definitely recommend Silent Justice to anyone who wants to understand what makes Thomas tick or who wants a greater perspective on the various ways people achieve power and prestige in American government and society.




4. I decided to read this book after coming across Mr. Greenya giving an informal talk about his book on C-Span in Spring 2002. Listening to Mr. Greenya talk, although he was a rather dull and unorganized speaker, I had hope that his book would be as neutral a biography as possible. Mr. Greenya was very open in acknowledging that the Right and Left are very passionate when it comes to Clarence Thomas and that there is rarely any middle. This is true, but Mr. Greenya made it seem that he may be one of the rare few capable of standing in that middle ground. Sadly, he's not.

   The book opens on the very first page with the view of Thomas's confirmation hearings through the perspective of the porn-store owner that alleges to have sold videos to Judge Thomas. Greenya writes that this owner was "excited" that one of "his customers" was being nominated to the Supreme Court. Yeah... I bet.

   After that wonderful introduction, the book truly begins with Thomas's impoverished childhood in Pin Point, Georgia. Mr. Greenya moves quickly through this time period, as well as most of Thomas's young adult and college days. The majority of the 300-page book is taken up by quotes and opinions on Thomas, mostly concerning the Anita Hill ordeal and Thomas's rulings as a Supreme Court Justice. In these cases, the quotes opposing Thomas are without fail longer and preceding the quotes from the far fewer sources Mr. Greenya uses who are on Thomas's side. Mr. Greenya even goes so far as to uncritically reference the words of people such as Nan Aron and Eliot Minceberg of People for the American Way, an ultra-Left lobbyist group.

   Mr. Greenya does not seem like a vindictive or vitriolic man, like many (not all, of course) of the people who attack Clarence Thomas for anything he does. But he is clearly slanted to a certain political side not in agreement with Clarence Thomas's views. In prefacing the lengthy passage he uses from Sarah Weddington, the lawyer who successfully argued the Roe v. Wade case, Mr. Greenya characterizes her as "a fierce protector of the right she worked so hard to win for all American women..." Political opinions aside, it is simple fact that there are tens of millions of American women who do not consider legalized abortion to be any "right" that human beings have, no matter what the law says... rather, they consider it morally appalling. In this simplistic statement Mr. Greenya gives away his political persuasion more than he does at any other point in this book. His explanation of what it means to "bork" a judge is also astoundingly false, according to the widely held understanding of the word, even as defined by Microsoft's Encarta dictionary, for one. Mr. Greenya almost seems to be painfully twisting things to meet an agenda at times.

   I give the book 2 stars because Clarence Thomas rejected several requests, rightfully so, by Mr. Greenya to be interviewed for this book. I'm sure Judge Thomas's friends and fellow conservatives also knew what to expect and turned down Mr. Greenya as well, which had to be a major factor, beyond his control, in Mr. Greenya's lack of qualified, pro-Thomas sources throughout the book. But the slant and the errors are simply inexcusable in a purportedly neutral book, and accompanied with a boring narrative, this makes for one of the worst "biographies" I have ever read.




5. John Greenya sets out to write a biography of Justice Thomas without making a judgement one way or the other. He pretty much manages to do that, however the story seems to lack any emotion at all.

   This is an almost impossible task as the early life of Justice Thomas is alive with passion. The hearings against him alive with the same and the voice of his detractors and his defenders alike brim with this emotion.

   Greenya doesn't seem to want to make a decision. He lets the participants and the record do most of the talking. His final chapter allows people involved and uninvolved make their cases however he refuses to draw any conclusions. This might be a desision made in order to be fair (and for the most part he shows respect for both sides of the story) but it makes for a less interesting book.

   The story of Thomas' early life and the story of the Hearings went fast and read well, they had what most of the book lacked, but that was due to the drama inherant in the facts, not the writers writing.

   I would suggest reading this volume first before reading the acolates of the right or the birckbats of the left, in that sense it is a useful book.

   This book may deserve a better rating than I gave it. Greenya is not trying to be Bernard Cornwell but I find I just can't do better than what I have.

5 comments about Holocaust Survivor.

1. "I was never a teenager...I lived on less than 800 calories a day...I was tortured; I was beaten; I've got scars on my face, but I always stood up. I always bounced back." Holocaust Survivor chronicles the five and a half years Mike Jacobs, founder of The Dallas Memorial Center for Holocaust Studies, spent as a youth in the ghettos and concentration camps of Poland including Auschwitz/Birkenau and Mauthausen/Gusen II. From the age of fifteen to nineteen, Mike witnessed and was subjected to horrors that no one should ever have to endure, including the infamous Death March in the dead of winter out of Auschwitz-Birkenau. He spares no detail in the retelling of the events he lived through, from the "beautiful dolls" and sadistic SS Sergeant of the Ostrowiec Ghetto, to the risky business of sabotaging the Messerschmidts he worked on as part of the camp resistance. Mike credits his survival to three things: his faith, his unfailing belief that he would one day be free, and his ability to dream. It is this underlying note of positive thinking that I think makes Mike's story different and eminently readable for all ages. Mike easily makes us believe that, despite the darkness and despair surrounding him, he did, indeed, rely on his dreams and soaring imagination to keep hope alive. His concentration camp friends thought "Mendel is getting off his rocker," but Mike felt the secret of survival was to close his eyes and soar high above the camp like a bird. "Guys, you wouldn't believe it! It was beautiful--I traveled all over the world, I was free!" This incredible story of spirit, endurance, and triumph over impossible odds is punctuated with Mike's message: "Hate breeds hate. But we cannot be silent or complacent. If we are, this can happen again." Thank you, Mike, for all the times you've spoken to my students, touched their hearts, moved them to tears, and ultimately, made them a formidable force for change.



2. Some people write books for money or recognition - not Mike Jacobs.

   His whole message - both in person and in his book - urges each one of us to "always remember, never forget," and to "never become silent or complacent." This message at first seemed somewhat obvious from what one might expect from a survivor.

   But Mike has a different spin on his message: He doesn't hate, and he doesn't feel self pity. Rather, he's exhuberant in his mission to live life to its fullest, and along the way, to explain what he lived through so no one human being ever has to face it again.

   His book is incredible - not just one to add to any collection; rather, your interest in a survivor's tale and triumph over such horrifying persecution should start right here with Mike. Let him tell you what really happened as he lived it first hand...and walk away with the message he lives every day to pass on to us, our children and their children.




3. Mike came to our school in October and shared a VERY SAD story with us and shode us some very strange things like the soup made of human Fat and a little bottle of poison.And much more but I cant remember them all well I REALLY want to buy his book to see alot more stuff about it!!



4. I am leading a group of five High School Seniors in an independent study about the Holocaust. This work, Holocaust Survivor, is a great resource. It is a raw, transcribed oral history of one man's journey. My students have found it very moving and informative.



5. I am utterly amazed at what this man went through. I have read alot about the holocaust but every survivor has a different story and there is always something that will shock you with every story. The horrors of what happened will never cease to shock me, never. This man has written a memoire that is packed with people and events than do not allow you to put this book down. It is very interesting to read and through all the horror you are glad to know that he made it through and had done so many wonderfull things with his life. I finished this book very quickly due to the fact it was hard to put down. I would recomend this book highly not only because it is so interesting but because it will allow to to understand how blessed we all are, you might just will change the way you live and think.

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