Law Books - Page 16

The Puzzle Palace: Inside the National Security Agency, America's Most Secret Intelligence Organization

James Bamford

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Total reviews: 48 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

In 1947, the governments of the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand signed a secret treaty in which they agreed to cooperate in matters of signals intelligence. In effect, the governments agreed to pool their geographic and technological assets in order to listen in on the electronic communications of China, the Soviet Union, and other Cold War bad guys--all in the interest of truth, justice, and the American Way, naturally. The thing is, the system apparently catches everything. Government security services, led by the U.S. National Security Agency, screen a large part (and perhaps all) of the voice and data traffic that flows over the global communications network. Fifty years later, the European Union is investigating possible violations of its citizens' privacy rights by the NSA, and the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a public advocacy group, has filed suit against the NSA, alleging that the organization has illegally spied on U.S. citizens.

Being a super-secret spy agency and all, it's tough to get a handle on what's really going on at the NSA. However, James Bamford has done great work in documenting the agency's origins and Cold War exploits in The Puzzle Palace. Beginning with the earliest days of cryptography (code-making and code-breaking are large parts of the NSA's mission), Bamford explains how the agency's predecessors helped win World War II by breaking the German Enigma machine and defeating the Japanese Purple cipher. He also documents signals intelligence technology, ranging from the usual collection of spy satellites to a great big antenna in the West Virginia woods that listened to radio signals as they bounced back from the surface of the moon.

Bamford backs his serious historical and technical material (this is a carefully researched work of nonfiction) with warnings about how easily the NSA's technology could work against the democracies of the world. Bamford quotes U.S. Senator Frank Church: "If this government ever became a tyranny ... the technological capacity that the intelligence community has given the government could enable it to impose total tyranny, and there would be no way to fight back, because the most careful effort to combine together in resistance to the government ... is within the reach of the government to know." This is scary stuff. --David Wall

Are We Rome?: The Fall of an Empire and the Fate of America

Cullen Murphy

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Subjects -> History -> Ancient -> Early Civilization

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Total reviews: 40 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

The rise and fall of ancient Rome has been on American minds from the beginning of our republic. Today we focus less on the Roman Republic than on the empire that took its place. Depending on who's doing the talking, the history of Rome serves as either a triumphal call to action or a dire warming of imminent collapse.

The esteemed editor and author Cullen Murphy ventures past the pundits' rhetoric to draw nuanced lessons about how America might avoid Rome's demise. Working on a canvas that extends far beyond the issue of an overstretched military, Murphy reveals a wide array of similarities between the two empires: the blinkered, insular culture of our capitals; the debilitating effect of venality in public life; the paradoxical issue of borders; and the weakening of the body politic though various forms of privatization. He persuasively argues that we most resemble Rome in the burgeoning corruption of our government and in our arrogant ignorance of the world outside -- two things that are in our power to change.

In lively, richly detailed historical stories based on the latest scholarship, the ancient world leaps to life and casts our own contemporary world in a provocative new light.

The Future of the Internet--And How to Stop It

Jonathan Zittrain

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Total reviews: 12 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

This extraordinary book explains the engine that has catapulted the Internet from backwater to ubiquity—and reveals that it is sputtering precisely because of its runaway success. With the unwitting help of its users, the generative Internet is on a path to a lockdown, ending its cycle of innovation—and facilitating unsettling new kinds of control.

 

IPods, iPhones, Xboxes, and TiVos represent the first wave of Internet-centered products that can’t be easily modified by anyone except their vendors or selected partners. These “tethered appliances” have already been used in remarkable but little-known ways: car GPS systems have been reconfigured at the demand of law enforcement to eavesdrop on the occupants at all times, and digital video recorders have been ordered to self-destruct thanks to a lawsuit against the manufacturer thousands of miles away. New Web 2.0 platforms like Google mash-ups and Facebook are rightly touted—but their applications can be similarly monitored and eliminated from a central source. As tethered appliances and applications eclipse the PC, the very nature of the Internet—its “generativity,” or innovative character—is at risk.

 

The Internet’s current trajectory is one of lost opportunity. Its salvation, Zittrain argues, lies in the hands of its millions of users. Drawing on generative technologies like Wikipedia that have so far survived their own successes, this book shows how to develop new technologies and social structures that allow users to work creatively and collaboratively, participate in solutions, and become true “netizens.”

(20080725)

Get It Together: Organize Your Records So Your Family Won't Have To (book with CD-Rom)

Melanie Cullen, Shae Irving

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Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Everyone has important paperwork — but not everyone is prepared to find it. Whether readers need to organize records for themselves or their survivors, Get It Together shows them how.

Designed for ease of use by both readers and their survivors, Get It Together helps them track down:

• instructions for survivors • final arrangements • estate planning documents • employment records • insurance policies • tax records • retirement accounts • government benefits • real estate records • and much more

A CD-ROM lets them fill out the workbook on their computers — so they can simply print their work and put it in a binder. Contains legal and practical guidance for each of the topics covered, including the following: § Personal Letter to Survivors- § Final Arrangements: Organ Donation; Burial or Cremation; § Funerals and Memorial Services- § Employment Records-Government Benefits-Real Estate § Practical Instructions for Survivors-Obituary-Insurance Policies-Credit Cards and Other Debts- § Business Interests Biographical Information- § Will and Trusts-Tax Records-Secured Places and Passwords-Vehicles § Health Care Directives-Children and Other Dependents § Bank and Brokerage Accounts-Memberships-Additional Personal Property § Durable Power of Attorney for Finances-Pets and Livestock- § Retirement Accounts and Pension Plans- § Service Providers-Other Important Information And much more

Federal Income Tax Examples & Explanations

Bankman, Joseph

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Subjects -> Law -> General

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Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

A Practitioner's Perspective 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I bought an earlier edition while I was in law school. This book is very well organized and covers both the conceptual and practical perspectives of taxation extraordinarily well. The questions at the end of each section help to solidify your understanding of the concepts by varying the fact scenarios from question to question.

I've been in tax practice for ten years, and I purchase each updated edition for a review of the conceptual aspects of taxation and for a quick review of the tax treatment of transactions I haven't handled very often in practice.

Cracking the LSAT, 2009 Edition (Graduate Test Prep)

Princeton Review

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Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Excellent 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Great tips and advice. The book explains the different types of questions on the LSAT and how to "crack" them. Also includes 3 practice tests with explanations and many practice problems. It really helped my LSAT preparations!!!

Editorial Review:

Cracking the LSAT brings you proven techniques from the test prep experts! The 2009 edition includes 2 full-length practice tests in the book and exclusive free access to another practice exam and further review online. In Cracking the LSAT, we’ll teach you how to think like the test writers and

·Master specific strategies for answering every question type
·Solve even the toughest questions in Arguments, Reading Comprehension, and Games
·Get the most out of your prep time with the study plan that’s right for you.
·Practice online with a full-length LSAT practice test

We give you plenty of practice problems to help you master our proven techniques. Our practice questions are just like those you’ll see on the real LSAT–but with detailed answers and explanations for every question.

How to Get Into the Top Law Schools, 4th edition

J.D., Richard Montauk

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Total reviews: 44 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

The Best Book on the Subject 5 out of 5 stars.
11 of 11 people found this review helpful.

This is the only book you will need to help you apply to law school. The author covers everything from personal statements to Loan repayment programs at top schools. The author focus on top twenty schools but the information should be helpful to anyone. The best part is hundreds of quotes on all subjects directly from the deans of admissions at top schools. It includes quotes from the deans at every school in the top 15 in the U.S. News and world report rankings and a number of other institutions including Boston College, George Washington, USC, UCLA, and Boston University. This is particularly helpful if you are targeting one of these top schools. There are executive summaries at the end of the chapters if you don't have time to read the entire book. This work will help anyone taking the application process seriously to maximize their chances of getting into the best school they can.

Editorial Review:

Richard Montauk, a savvy admissions insider, demystifies the application process and provides the tools to ace every step. Based on interviews with dozens of admissions officers, Montauk delivers a candid view of what leading law schools look for in an applicant. He also gives applicants solid advice on developing marketing strategies, writing winning essays, maximizing financial aid, and assessing and upgrading credentials to better match that ideal profile.

The FBI Career Guide: Inside Information on Getting Chosen for and Succeeding in One of the Toughest, Most Prestigious Jobs in the World

Joseph W. Koletar

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Total reviews: 9 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

In the three years following the September 11th attacks, 150,000 people applied to be Special Agents in the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Only 2,200 got the job. The FBI Career Guide reveals strategies that radically increase the odds of getting hired, and that will prepare agents for a challenging, rewarding career at the Bureau. There may be no one in the world more qualified to help aspiring agents begin and excel at an FBI career than Joe Koletar, a 25-year Bureau veteran whose executive credentials are second to none. This ultimate insider's guide looks at:

* the application process * New Agents Training * field office and foreign assignments * pay, benefits, and career opportunities * educational and career decisions that improve the odds of being hired * how investigations, undercover and SWAT team operations, and specialty assignments work * and much more.

Readers will also learn how the job might affect them and their families, how to plan their career and climb the ladder, and even prepare for life after the Bureau. Above all, they'll find out what it takes to succeed-and how to show they've got it.

Supreme Conflict: The Inside Story of the Struggle for Control of the United States Supreme Court

Jan Crawford Greenburg

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WARNING: CONSERVATIVE BIAS; but still an informative read. 3 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

I'm a second-year JD/MBA student at one of the nation's best law and business schools, and I picked up on the conservative bias in the book by about 50 pages in.

I have three reasons so far for saying the book is biased in favor of the right. The book sets out to portray the court's shift rightward, first of all, and focuses on conservative justices, sources of information, and issues.

Second, liberals are usually not mentioned for long, and Greenburg takes care to point out personality flaws in the liberals more than the conservatives. Blackmun, for example, is described as "touchy" at one point for no reason, without it being relevant to the topic, and without Greenburg providing a supporting quotation or evidence. She also spends a lot of time on how big of a disappointment justices like Kennedy, Souter, Blackmun, etc. turned out to be, and even talks about Rehnquist failing to turn the Court sufficiently rightward. Greenburg is supposedly an impartial journalist, but her bias is revealed because of the book's heavy reliance on conservative sources of information.

Thirdly, the book casts Kennedy and O'Connor as "moderates," when both were/have been/are solid conservative votes, except for some high-profile cases on social issues. If you don't believe me, just look up vote counts and see how often Kennedy and O'Connor vote and voted with Rehnquist and company. The only people who would try to label O'Connor and Kennedy moderates would be staunch conservatives, in order to shift the perceived spectrum of American politics rightwards.

This is a book by what I figured must have been a conservative, and my research corroborates it. I'm not saying the book is bad or anything; it still provides a lot of insight into conservative thinking. For example, it gives illuminating looks into the workings of the Justice Department in aiding nomination processes.

--------------------

UPDATE: I finished the book, and my view of it as being biased in favor of the right is cemented. Greenburg spent two pages on each of Clinton's nominees to the court; the vast majority of the book is spent on conservatives. The justices on Rehnquist's court are criticized heavily for failing to stop the "liberal agenda." I could go on.

Editorial Review:

Drawing on unprecedented acc ess to the Supreme Court justices themselves and their inner circles, acclaimed ABC News legal correspondent Jan Crawford Greenburg offers an explosive newsbreaking account of one of the most momentous political watersheds in American history. From the series of Republican nominations that proved deeply frustrating to conservatives to the decades of bruising battles that led to the rise of Justices Roberts and Alito, this is the authoritative story of the conservative effort to shift the direction of the high court—a revelatory look at one of the central fronts of America’s culture wars by one of the most widely respected experts on the subject.

Profit by Investing in Real Estate Tax Liens: Earn Safe, Secured, and Fixed Returns Every Time

Larry B. Loftis

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Total reviews: 32 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

An investment alternative that gives fixed returns of 10 to 25 percent.
Profit by Investing in Real Estate Tax Liens introduces an investment alternative that is safe, secured by real estate, administered by the government, involves no brokers, is enforced by state law, and gives fixed returns. Selling tax liens or tax deeds (depending on the state) are the two ways that counties across the country bring delinquent property taxes up-to-date. This investment is one of the least publicized and safest ways of investing in real estate, designed to give the investor either a fixed return, as in the case of investing in tax liens, or a property for 10 to 50 cents on the dollar, as in the case of a tax deed sale. In most situations, the property is ultimately transferred free of any liens, such as mortgages. Profit by Investing in Real Estate Tax Liens also debunks the common myth that tax delinquent properties are run-down and shows that liens exist on every type of property. Author Larry Loftis, an attorney and active investor, has purchased liens on properties owned by Julius "Dr. J" Erving, Hector "Macho" Camacho (world champion boxer), Chase Manhattan Bank, LaSalle National Bank, and even a building whose major tenant was the local sheriff's department! In this authoritative guide, Loftis helps investors avoid the pitfalls while answering all the key questions they need to consider:
* What's the difference between investing in tax liens and tax deeds?
* How does an investor go about bidding at tax sales? And what is the process?
* What are the different requirements in each state?
* Where are the greatest risks in this kind of real estate investing? For investors eager to get started, Loftis's action plan provides details on the next steps to take, while real-life examples in every chapter bring the concepts down to earth.