Lawyers & Criminals Books

Assassination Vacation

Sarah Vowell

Amazon Price: $11.20 List Price: $14.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Simon & Schuster Amazon Marketplace: 56 new & used starting at $6.43

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Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 137 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Sarah Vowell exposes the glorious conundrums of American history and culture with wit, probity, and an irreverent sense of humor. With Assassination Vacation, she takes us on a road trip like no other -- a journey to the pit stops of American political murder and through the myriad ways they have been used for fun and profit, for political and cultural advantage.

From Buffalo to Alaska, Washington to the Dry Tortugas, Vowell visits locations immortalized and influenced by the spilling of politically important blood, reporting as she goes with her trademark blend of wisecracking humor, remarkable honesty, and thought-provoking criticism. We learn about the jinx that was Robert Todd Lincoln (present at the assassinations of Presidents Lincoln, Garfield, and McKinley) and witness the politicking that went into the making of the Lincoln Memorial. The resulting narrative is much more than an entertaining and informative travelogue -- it is the disturbing and fascinating story of how American death has been manipulated by popular culture, including literature, architecture, sculpture, and -- the author's favorite -- historical tourism. Though the themes of loss and violence are explored and we make detours to see how the Republican Party became the Republican Party, there are all kinds of lighter diversions along the way into the lives of the three presidents and their assassins, including mummies, show tunes, mean-spirited totem poles, and a nineteenth-century biblical sex cult.

Happy Hour Is for Amateurs: A Lost Decade in the World's Worst Profession

Philadelphia Lawyer

Amazon Price: $16.29 List Price: $23.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: William Morrow Amazon Marketplace: 45 new & used starting at $13.72

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 51 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

White Collar Blues 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 6 people found this review helpful.

This book really spoke to me. I've worked in cube farms and white collar corporate offices since I was 17, 95% of the time wishing that I was anywhere else. The author put what I was thinking and feeling into words much more clear then I could have and really made me think about my career choices, and gave me a lot of laughs on the way.

Much like his blog, there were moments where it was long winded - but I thought it was more then funny enough to make up for it and still be one of my favorite books this year.

Editorial Review:

For some people, happy hour is never enough

This is a book about escape. It's also about laughing gas. And bourbon and dope and sex and mushrooms and every other vice millions of us indulge in to forget our jobs, the office, and the stifling, corporate caricatures we're forced to become for paychecks. This is a book about a decade lost in a senseless career no one likes and all the ridiculous things I did to run from it. In the end, it's probably your story as much as mine. We're everywhere. We just can't say it out loud.

Insultingly Stupid Movie Physics: Hollywood's Best Mistakes, Goofs and Flat-Out Destructions of the Basic Laws of the Universe

Tom Rogers

Amazon Price: $10.17 List Price: $14.95 Usually ships in 1 to 3 weeks By: Sourcebooks Hysteria Amazon Marketplace: 16 new & used starting at $7.95

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 9 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Highly Interesting for Geeks like me! 4 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

This book examines many things that happen in movies. So, you see a guy with an automatic weapon firing for 20 seconds straight. This book lets you know the firing rate, and capacity so that it would be empty in 1.5 seconds. Also, the weight of bullets, e.g. Matrix Revolutions, at that firing rate, wheelbarrels of bullets won't do it, you need truckfulls. Besides the physics - how fast an explosion goes, versus gravity pulling our hero down to water (they always jump away from an explosion), would give him 17 inches down toward water - oops, fried. Beside the fun physics, what I remember from high school and freshman college physics is in seperate boxes (e.g. Force = Mass x Acceleration) used to give details. You can skip these if they are too dry for you - but I love the backup info. What is great about this book is that the author does not just dismiss stuff - e.g. let's say Superman can fly (given), but if he swooped in to save Lois, coming to an immediate stop, all his kinetic energy would be converted to heat - about 6000 degrees. Or Spiderman, to zip around would need about 1/3 of his body weight to be web creating fluid. Lots of great stuff covered, Star Trek inertial dampers (without they'd be pancake crew), shields in all space movies, Matrix Revolution firing, bullets knocking someone off his feet (e.g. Lethal Weapon), how much explosive to blast the asteroid in Armageddon (oh, about 1000 of the largest nuclear bombs Russia ever built), the bus jump in Speed (how it could actually happen, versus how they filmed it), etc. Lots of great movies covered, without ruining them. Clearly this author loves movies as much as I do, and yet wants to educate readers on physics so you don't try to start a gasoline puddle fire with a cigarette (highly unlikely to work - read the book and see why!). The end of each chapter has a short list of PLUS and MINUS for movies in the category - e.g. [-][-] planets that explode in a few seconds, [0] terrestrial fireballs traveling great distances at hypersonic speeds (incorrect but forgivable), [+][+] fragmentation grenades detonating without large fireballs. So each of these plus and minus relate to movies in the prior chapter, and notice the author often 'forgives' some physics because it is good for the movie/story.

Editorial Review:

-Would the bus in Speed really have made that jump?
-Could a Star Wars ship actually explode in space?
-What really would have happened if you said "Honey, I shrunk the kids"?

The companion book to the hit website (www.intuitor.com/moviephysics), which boasts more than 1 million visitors per year, Insultingly Stupid Movie Physics is a hilarious guide to the biggest mistakes, most outrageous assumptions, and the outright lunacy at work in Hollywood films that play with the rules of science.

In this fascinating and funny guide, author Tom Rogers examines 20 different topics and shows how, when it comes to filmmaking, the rules of physics are flexible.

Einsteins and film buffs alike will be educated and entertained by this wise and witty guide to science in Hollywood.

Popeye Vol. 3: "Let's You and Him Fight!"

E.C. Segar

Amazon Price: $19.79 List Price: $29.99 Usually ships in 2 to 4 weeks By: Fantagraphics Books

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Editorial Review:

Our third volume (of six) of the acclaimed hit all-ages series collecting the entirety of E.C. Segar's original Popeye (a.k.a. Thimble Theatre) comic strips features work from 1932 to 1934. In addition to the daily and Sunday strips, this volume will present a true collector's item: Segar's never-reprinted two-week "World's Fair" continuity. This sequence has never been republished since its original publication 75 years ago. This volume will also contain the conclusion of Donald Phelps's incisive and articulate critical essay on Segar's work "Real People, Real Theatre," and Richard Marschall's insightful analysis of Segar's continuity and story techniques. E.C. Segar blended complex narratives, slapstick traditions, brilliant characterization, and an inimitable cartooning style to create the most exciting and profound humor of his era.

The Gatehouse Mystery (Trixie Belden #3)

Julie Campbell

Amazon Price: $6.99 List Price: $6.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Random House Books for Young Readers Amazon Marketplace: 81 new & used starting at $0.23

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Subjects -> Children's Books -> Literature -> Science Fiction, Fantasy, Mystery & Horror -> Mysteries, Espionage, & Detectives

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

A rollicking adventure! 5 out of 5 stars.
6 of 6 people found this review helpful.

Trixie Belden and Honey Wheeler find a diamond in the abandoned gatehouse at the edge of the Wheelers' property, but someone is trying to get it back. Meanwhile, Trixie's brothers Brian and Mart have returned from camp, meeting Honey and her brother Jim for the first time, so the secret Bob-Whites of the Glen club is ripe for formation.

As much trouble as the girls get into, the adults still come off as helpful and intelligent, unlike many other YA mystery series (or even the Harry Potter books).

Usually I prefer the Deluxe edition from the 1960s with covers illustrated by Paul Frame, but for this one, check out the edition illustrated by Mary Stevens. One picture shows Trixie and Honey doing some pruning -- with Trixie looking remarkably like Beavis of MTV fame -- and a charming Ashley Judd look-alike picture of Trixie greeting Mart. This book also features the memorable line by Regan, the Wheeler's beloved young groom, "Reach for the ceiling, Laughing-Boy."

Editorial Review:

When Trixie and Honey explore an abandoned gatehouse, they discover more than dust and spiderwebs. Stuck in the dirt floor is a huge diamond! Could a ring of jewel thieves be hiding out in Sleepyside?

Complete Chester Gould's Dick Tracy Volume 5 (Complete Chester Gould's Dick Tracy)

Chester Gould

Amazon Price: $21.59 List Price: $29.99 By: IDW Publishing Amazon Marketplace: 26 new & used starting at $19.22

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Little known stories..and villains 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

i'm fascinated by dick Tracy in the Thirties, when Gould was developing his art. The graphic, as we approach the forties, become more refined and icastic, the villains more "original" and nasty. here we have the loathsome human smuggler Bronzen, the dandyish mobster Johnny Ramm, the grotewque Scardol, the nazi spy Karpse and the overbearing Wolley. Though less imposing than the famous grotesques of the forties, they have that characteristic Gouldian quality, each one incarnates a distinct facet of evil. Gould can also create strange and fascinating women characters, as we see in the exotic Noana and in Mitzi Gaines.
In short, a book to savour!

Editorial Review:

Presenting the fifth volume of IDW Publishing's deluxe hardcover collection of Chester Gould's timeless comic strip, Dick Tracy! Volume Five once again contains over 500 comic strips from the series' early years, this time covering material that originally ran from January 1938 through July 1939. Included in this collection are Tracy story arcs such as "Chief Shellberry," Karpse," "Scardol," and "Whip Chute."

Disorder in the Court: Great Fractured Moments in Courtroom History

Charles M. Sevilla

Amazon Price: $11.16 List Price: $13.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: W. W. Norton & Company Amazon Marketplace: 50 new & used starting at $5.00

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 13 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Goofy Things Said in Court 5 out of 5 stars.
11 of 11 people found this review helpful.

The book is a collection of things people actually said in court, word for word, taken down by court reporters. It must be tough to record some of these exchanges without laughing out loud. Fun reading for anyone, but if you have a friend who's a lawyer or a judge, it might be the perfect gift for them.

Here are some samples from the book:

ATTORNEY: What is your date of birth?
WITNESS: July 18th.
ATTORNEY: What year?
WITNESS: Every year.
_____________________________________

ATTORNEY: How old is your son, the one living with you?
WITNESS: Thirty-eight or thirty-five, I can't remember which.
ATTORNEY: How long has he lived with you?
WITNESS: Forty-five years.
_____________________________________
ATTORNEY: What was the first thing your husband
said to you that morning?
WITNESS: He said, "Where am I, Cathy?"
ATTORNEY: And why did that upset you?
WITNESS: My name is Susan.
______________________________________
ATTORNEY: Now doctor, isn't it true that when a
person dies in his sleep, he doesn't know about it until the next morning?
WITNESS: Did you actually pass the bar exam?
____________________________________
ATTORNEY: The youngest son, the twenty-one-year-old, how old is he?
WITNESS: Uh, he's twenty-one
________________________________________
ATTORNEY: Were you present when your picture was taken?
WITNESS: Would you repeat the question?
______________________________________
ATTORNEY: So the date of conception (of the baby)
was August 8th?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: And what were you doing at that time?
WITNESS: Uh....
______________________________________
ATTORNEY: She had three children, right?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: How many were boys?
WITNESS: None.
ATTORNEY: Were there any girls?
______________________________________
ATTORNEY: How was your first marriage terminated?
WITNESS: By death.
ATTORNEY: And by whose death was it terminated?

Editorial Review:

Sit back and enjoy a collection of verbatim exchanges from the halls of justice, where defendants and plaintiffs, lawyers and witnesses, juries and judges, collide to produce memorably insane comedy.

How to Be a Villain: Evil Laughs, Secret Lairs, Master Plans, and More!!!

Neil Zawacki

Amazon Price: $12.95 List Price: $12.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Chronicle Books Amazon Marketplace: 72 new & used starting at $0.93

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 34 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Mildly Amusing & Entertaining 3 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I wasn't sure what I was getting after I ordered this book. It's in hardback and cute but not applicable at all. You see, I dream of being an evil overlord like Ming the Merciless or Dr. Victor Von Doom. I thought I'd learn how to go about it but the book is all tongue-in-cheek. Sadly I'm not. 8^) While not a sociopath, I am a psychopath in that I aspire to be a ruthless dictator and hoped this book might give me some food for thought.

The price is right for entertainment. Easy to read. H*ll I read it while riding on a business trip with some co-workers. They were sorely disappointed too as they all wanted to be my evil henchmen and kill me off once I had achieved the real power and success I dreamt of.

It's entertaining, amusing, thoughtful and fun to read but nothing in here is usable. I'll just have to stick with the Art of War, The Art of Warfare, the Prince and 48 Laws of Power....for now.

Editorial Review:

A delightfully evil gift, How to Be a Villain is a step-by-step guide to joining the forces of darkness. Because, though villains may never win, they sure have more fun, hatching master plans for world domination, smoothing their dastardly tights. Neil Zawacki answers all the most urgent questions: Should I go with a black or red theme? Do I invest in an army of winged monkeys or ninja warriors? And just where will I put the evil hideout? Whether readers choose to pursue a career as a Criminal Mastermind, Mad Scientist, Corporate Bastard, or just a Wanna-be Evil Genius, they are sure to find plenty of tips for jumpstarting any evil enterprise. Cheaper than attending the annual bad guy conference and way more fun than being good, How to Be a Villain is guaranteed to elicit deep-throated evil laughs across the land.

Law School in a Box: All the Prestige for a Fraction of the Price (Mental Floss Presents)

Mental Floss

Amazon Price: $14.95 List Price: $14.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Quirk Books Amazon Marketplace: 19 new & used starting at $7.51

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Best thing since sliced bread and/or Dostoevsky 5 out of 5 stars.
15 of 20 people found this review helpful.

This is another quality Mental Floss product and is a great book for someone who just got into law school, your lawyer, your wannabe-lawyer friend, and/or you! Clearly this includes all you need to accomplish the following: (1) pass the bar, (2) get a plush firm job, (3) win your first case, and (4) argue in front of and ultimately become a judge on both the Supreme Court of your State and the United States. Well, maybe not, but at least it's fun.

Editorial Review:

Sure, you could spend $100,000 on a law degree from Harvard or Yale. But then you'd have to deal with crowded classrooms, inconvenient course schedules, and rigorous academic study. Fortunately, the brilliant minds of Mental_Floss magazine are proud to offer an alternative: Law School in a Box. This prestigious boxed university offers a complete legal education for just $14.95. Your program includes:
Law School in 96 Pages: Your Comprehensive Textbook
10 Heroes of the Courtroom Trading Cards
10 "You Be the Judge" Cards
A devilishly complicated legal trivia bar exam
A rolled diploma with real Latin words

It's the perfect gift for lawyers and would-be lawyers of all ages, from the highest-ranked boxed law school in the country!

The Funniest Cop Stories Ever

Tom Philbin, Scott Baker

Amazon Price: $9.99 List Price: $9.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Andrews McMeel Publishing Amazon Marketplace: 20 new & used starting at $5.30

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 9 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Cops are the people who see and hear it all. They work at one of the world's most dangerous jobs, but it's also one of the most entertaining. When their lives are at risk¿and even when they aren't¿cops encounter constant weirdness and stupidity in human behavior. The Funniest Cop Stories Ever collects the strangest, most amusing stories about stupid crooks, bungled crimes, and station-house banter. A true look at what life is like behind the badge, the tales in The Funniest Cop Stories Ever were collected by real-life ex-New York City policeman Scott Baker and coauthor Tom Philbin. Anecdotes are told by the real-life cops who experienced them and include:

A foot chase after a dwarf who karate-kicked his girlfriend's door and assaulted her while wearing a tuxedo and carrying a violin case.

A beggar who ended people's pay phone calls so he could demand their extra spare change.

A narcotics bust on a guy who claimed the crack cocaine¿and his pants¿didn't belong to him.