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The Legal Analyst: A Toolkit for Thinking about the Law By Ward Farnsworth ( University Of Chicago Press )
Release Date: 2007-06-15
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Product Description
There are two kinds of knowledge law school teaches: legal rules on the one hand, and tools for thinking about legal problems on the other. Although the tools are far more interesting and useful than the rules, they tend to be neglected in favor of other aspects of the curriculum. In The Legal Analyst, Ward Farnsworth brings together in one place all of the most powerful of those tools for thinking about law.
From classic ideas in game theory such as the “Prisoner’s Dilemma” and the “Stag Hunt” to psychological principles such as hindsight bias and framing effects, from ideas in jurisprudence such as the slippery slope to more than two dozen other such principles, Farnsworth’s guide leads readers through the fascinating world of legal thought. Each chapter introduces a single tool and shows how it can be used to solve different types of problems. The explanations are written in clear, lively language and illustrated with a wide range of examples.
The Legal Analyst is an indispensable user’s manual for law students, experienced practitioners seeking a one-stop guide to legal principles, or anyone else with an interest in the law.
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Thought provoking and not just for lawyers ( mhahn52 )
It's unfortunate that this book uses the term legal in the title since that might turn off potential readers who are not lawyers. The topics covered in this book would be interesting to anyone with an interest in politics, economics, public policy, and of course law. Some of the discussion is geared a little more towards law, but it doesn't take too much thought to extend the ideas.
Each chapter gives an introduction to the topic it concerns itself with, such as game theory, slippery slopes, hindsight bias, etc. It then goes on to discuss some problems drawn from areas such as a law, economics, or social issues, and how considering them in light of the topic of the chapter can give a new perspective.
The chapters are short and not so interdependent that you couldn't skip around a little to read the ones you find most interesting first. I think all the chapters were interesting, and recommend just starting at the beginning.
Amazon doesn't give a table of contents, but you can look up the author's website which has a link to a website for the book. There you can find the table of contents and a few sample chapters.
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legal theory with real world applications
I purchased this book, like all of my legal theory book purchases, with a bit of skepticism. However, unlike most of my legal theory books, I finished this one wondering how I ever felt equipped to understand any aspect of our laws without it. This book explains some very complicated legal theories by using only the clearest explanations and examples available. The sections on Jurisprudence and Incentives are especially insightful. The chapters are very well organized. My only regret about this book is that it wasn't available to me as a law student. I recommend this book to anyone, especially law students, who is interested in gaining a better appreciation for the policies behind and implications of our laws.
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Excellent Book
I recommend this book to any law student. This is stuff that all my professors continually refer to, but no one ever really takes the time to explain. I've been able to participate much more in discussions and understand the implications of various policies, etc.
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Excellent Tool!
I have Farnsworth as a professor and he is great! This book will help you understand why the law is the way it is.
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This is an Exceptional book ( rcatkins )
It provides the reader with an overview of the principle methods used in legal reasoning. Using simple, but realistic examples Farnsworth shows the ambiguity facing the various parties in a legal setting. He shows how various "tools" can be used in thinking about legal problems and describes the less obvious but potentially relevant factors that must be considered in deciding the outcome.
The audience for the book is not limited to lawyers. It will be of interest to those in any profession where the decision to complex issues calls for seeing the problem as a whole, examining how decisions affect one another and arriving at the optimal solution.
The book views the law in many parts through the lens of economic theory.
It is a must-read for anyone interested in understanding the law.
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Addiction
