Roberts and Guelff's "Documents on the laws of war" is a comprehensive collection of the treaties that created the body of armed conflict law and an essential tool for all students approaching this subject. The various documents are preceded by brief introductions which help even the most unacquainted user to orientate himself and to understand the origins, the context and the importance of the various sources. Even the practitioner will find it very useful, thanks to a detailed index at the end of book which allows to find the relevant legal material in few minutes. Last but not least, it contains the most recent treaties of this legal field, such as the 1999 2nd Hague Protocol for the Protection of Cultural Property in the event of armed conflict, or the 1998 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. I have recently used this book for my exam in international humanitarian law and it has certainly helped me to obtain a first class mark!

Renowned Oxford scholar Adam Roberts, once again has been able to put together an outstanding work, in collecting documents on the laws and by-laws of international treaties and pacts, international declarations and conventions, etc. The book is a reference book. However, it is also an extremely interesting and useful tool (for those interested in those matters) to 'browse through' from time to time. It is a book that cannot miss from the library of any international law expert. While it may be needed from time to time for a quick consultation on specific points, it will also provide huge amounts of information on the legal insights of international conflict.

Adam Roberts and Richard Guelff have further refined their excellent text on humanitarian law. This book is an absolute must for students, academics, operations lawyers and politicians alike. Written in clear, concise and exact English 'Documents on the Laws of War' is a comprehensive collection of treaty and customary law. An operations lawyer could be be considered as 'negligent' if s/he failed to have this guide to the 'law of armed conflict' by his/her side at all times. Essential reading and reference.

The Examples and Explanations Series comes through for IL's-- this book is no exception. I have found these books to be the only truly helpful study aid in law school; outlines and case summaries are a WASTE of money and time! This one covers all the topics in Crim Law very thoroughly and the sample questions are very like exam questions-- definitely a good exercise!

Excellent book. Grade-saving discussion on larceny. Highly recommend this (Crim Law) and the Contracts E&E.

This book is not really as difficult to find as stated in the description. It is available through the publisher, as are all of the examples and explanation series books. These books are helpful using plain English explanations. Highly recommended for the "Pre" first year law student who wants to get a "jump" on the subjects.

Chief Judge Posner's book is an erudite and interesting one. Whilst often regarded as a conservative for his scholarly analysis of economic issues in a market economy, this book is not conservative. It appears basically supportive of the sexual revolution. Its utility is at its greatest when it applies neutral economic analysis to the social aspects of sex. It is at its weakest when in the enthusiasm for the novelty and power of its analytical insights, it at least appears to derive moral or normative conclusions that do not necessarily follow from the positive analysis. It reflects the dangers that both libertarian Austrian economists, such as Ludwig von Mises and social democratic economists have both seen in trying to apply insights derived from markets to non-market transactions - here sexual ones. Accordingly, whilst Chief Judge Posner speaks supportively of certain aspects of Swedish policy in relation to sexual matters and expressly and by inference against the traditional conservative Judeo-Christian attitudes to sex in those areas, economic analysis does not dictate that viewpoint. Values dictate that choice, but economics can illumine the consequences of those choices. In sum, an able, readable, but a very personal work, which could be read by those who are not familiar with the limits to the economic analysis of law - an area Posner has brilliantly contributed so much to - as conclusively determinative of issues which cannot be resolved by that positive analysis alone. Whilst less accessible in view of the use of math, Professor Becker's works are closer to a neutral analysis of many of these important questions.

Reading Judge Posner's book is a humbling experience. Much of what I thought I knew about sex is a tiny fraction of what this book has documented, analyzed and argued.

I have known that many early Greek luminaries, such as Plato, Socrates and Sophocles were homosexual. This book puts these mere points of interest in a wholly different light by exploring the social settings of the early Grecian (Athenian) society: that the early marriages were not companionate, that women in that society, including wives, were sequestered, that boys and girls were raised separately, and not by the mother, that pederasty was almost an accepted social institution, etc.

I have always believed that homosexuality is a rooted genetically, although it is not binary factor. This book puts homosexuality, through the use of the "Kinsey scale", into different degrees and clearly distinguishes between homosexual tendency and homosexual activity, and defines the opportunistic homosexual in economic terms. With very simple reasoning, this book explains why urbanization seems (only seems) to foster homosexuality and the emergence of homosexual enclaves such as San Francisco and New York.

This book also explains, again through an economic model, why the black men in this country seem (again, only seem!) to be sexually aggressive and promiscuous, whereas sexual abuse of off-spring children (girls) have a higher incidence in white households.

I am also enlightened on how the child birth, which in the early days often caused the death of the mother, created serial polygamy (polygyny, to be more precise) and that the widower, who were older and more economically established men, puts young bachelors at a competitive disadvantage in securing a mate, especially in the early industrial society where the cost of marriage was high.

I am enlightened to the role of the Church as the promoter of companionate marriage and how its fairly profound effect on this social institution. And also why the Church "overtly condoned prostitution and covertly condoned monastic homosexuality."

There are many other issues, such as infanticide, fornication, adultery, divorce, coercive and abusive sex, pornography, adoption, surrogate child-bearing ... to which Judge Posner gave interesting and informative treatment.

The thoroughness with which Judge Posner analyzes a problem is unmatched. Although I am not always completely convinced by his reasoning (because some of the arguments are necessarily qualitative and intuitive,) but the plausibility is striking. And I am frequently amazed by the different angles with which he looks at an issue, and the amount of facts and data he brings forth to support his views. When facts contradict what his theory predicts, he graciously points that out. In the conclusion of the book, Judge Posner, with scholarly grace and modesty, points out that his work was exploratory, a learning process for himself, and was not being presented as definitive.

Judge Posner's writing style is very good. The book is never boring, though some of the information and arguments are repeated due to the inter-relatedness of many of the issues. Throughout the book, the Judge's remarkable analytic skill can be felt. At one point, the Judge mercilessly took apart the New Jersey Supreme Court's opinion of the Baby M case (Stern vs. Whitehead) and clearly showed how judges, lacking knowledge on the subject matter and often ignorant about economics, proceeded to vote their own prejudices, and substituted rhetoric and sloppy logic for judicial analysis. This one episode, which clearly illustrates the reason he wrote this book, as he stated in the introduction, is worth the price of the book.

How many judges are as good as Judge Posner? Since he has published so much, chances of his ever being nominated and confirmed to be a justice of the High Court must be pretty slim, considering the infamous borking effect. This is just as well. I wishfully think his publications probably has a greater influence on the society, especially the legal community, than if he were appointed a justice.

Having read several of Judge Posner's books, I mark him down as one of a handful of top-notch intellectuals in my estimation.

In this book Richard Posner manages to singlehandedly turn legal scholarship on its head. He examines human sexuality from a myriad of perspectives--literature, sociology, evolutionary biology, morality, and history. He does so with impeccable scholarship, demonstrating not only that he is widely read in these diverse areas, but that he has something to say. The book is worth reading for just that.

But Posner's more impressive accomplishment is his singular approach to the regulation of human sexual behavior. His rational choice, economics of law approach is compelling. Even if you are not entirely convinced, Posner builds a powerful case for both academic and policy debate.

Posner's approach contrasts with most legal scholarship, which is lifeless and rarely bothers to consider the social sciences. Posner's book shows the intergal link between law, politics, and economics. It is also approachable and direct. You can't read Sex and Reason and not feel your deeply held beliefs directly challenged by a kind and discerning intellect. He is passionate, articulate, and eminently readable.

Posner's book has become a lightening rod in legal circles and is a must read for any serious reader in the area.

Richard Koch follows up his best-selling The 80/20 Principle with this engrossing look at science's universal principles (biological, physical and non-linear) at work in the business world. Richly detailed and splendidly written, this page-turner will change the way you look at every aspect of business. Koch shows you how innovation and success happen when you work with Mother Nature, and not against her. Don't worry if you slept through high school and college science classes, the author guides you smoothly through scientific theories as he applies them to business. We from getAbstract highly recommend this soon-to-be-classic to everyone in the business world, even if you are a former physics flunkie.

Richard Koch's premise that the knowledge of how pure science works can provide us with the underlying rationale of how business works in fundamental ways is insightful and important. My grad students found The Natural Laws to be challenging and exciting to read and discuss. It is possible to take Koch's discussion on natural selection and combine it with quantum physics to understand the complex movements of markets and competition. The Natural Laws of Business is written with a clarity that belies the complexity of the many scientific theories discussed. Because business is a part of the universe that we are attempting to describe via science, then business ought to behave according to the fundamental laws of science that we have discovered. Koch opens the door to understanding such behavior.

For the well educated (ie from a quantitative discipline) that have studied physics, chemistry and mathematics at some time, this book is a gold mine of insights into the way that reality drives outcomes, not wishful thinking.

The Laws of the natural world exist and cannot be discounted no matter how inconvenient they are to our assumptions. Knowing how things come together allows us to better see solutions.

The best section is the Pareto Optimum - nature is not democratic and 50/50 outcomes are the exception so never expect the law of averages to help you - it does not work that way.

A very good read - those with a science background will get the most out of it but that is not critical.

I was excited to get a copy of this book and was surprised to see the breadth of the material. The effort to cover such a wide variety of important topics must have been extraordinary. The style is crisp and the outline flows well as the reader moves along. This is a good source book for those in the legal industry but not a scholarly work for the more initiated. Many good ideas of a practical nature can be gleaned from these pages. This is neither a review of the psychology of persuasion nor a consolidation of the ideas of psychologists and trial consultants who have works of their own. It appears to be the best thinking of Dr. Waites plus some general research materials which support his points of view. I congratulate the author and look forward to his other works.

I had heard a lot about this book before reading it. Now, after reading it, I see that this is not just another trial advocacy book. It will challenge you to think about courtroom persuasion in new ways.

You can tell that the author is an expert in traditional trial advocacy technique. However, he focuses on the psychology of decision makers in a way that will make you think more carefully about how to persuade them. If you are expecting this book to read like any other trial advocacy text, you will be surprised. If you want new information that can make you more successful in the courtroom, you will be pleased. If you want just another book that restates outdated ideas about trial advocacy, you won't find it here.

The book contains 600 pages and 18 chapters. It is well organized so that you can read the parts that you need and then keep it nearby for reference as new problems come up in different court cases. About half the chapters are focused on applying psychological information to traditional trial advocacy topics, such as opening statement, fact and expert witness testimony, demonstrative aids, closing argument, bench trials, arbitration advocacy, and even mediation advocacy.

However, the rest of the chapters provide information on the psychology of communication, scientific studies of juror perceptions, as well as designing and analyzing scientific research studies of judges, juries, and arbitrators in your own cases. For example, in the chapter on juror perceptions, there are separate discussions of juror perceptions of liability and damages issues in personal injury, products liability, medical malpractice, employment, patent, copyright, trademark, and many other types of cases.

Throughout the book, the author discusses his personal insights from 20 years of practicing law and psychology in the courtroom. He obviously knows what he is talking about. He uses case analogies throughout the book to illustrate his points. However, having become jaded over the years, I took some comfort in seeing that his ideas are supported throughout the book. In addition, the book contains commentary from a number of trial judges and trial attorneys at major firms that provide additional ideas and support to the author's work.

The greatest strength of this book is the blending of well accepted trial advocacy principles to scientific information used in the field of psychology. From the outset, the author makes his premise clear: trial attorneys, corporate counsel, and their clients will be more successful in the courtroom when they orient their case presentations to the actual perceptions of the judges, jurors, and arbitrators they are trying to persuade. The rest of the book is dedicated to showing you how to do just that.

This book is pretty amazing. It is actually a courtroom psychology book that should be on the desk of every trial lawyer or litigation manager. The author does a masterful job of explaining important psychological techniques that have been proven to be very useful in delivering more powerful and persuasive substance in persuading judges, jurors and arbitrators. He has developed a new concept called "decision maker oriented" trial advocacy. Essentially he believes that advocacy skills training (e.g. NITA training) is important for making us better messengers in the courtroom and that it is now time for us to concentrate on developing more compelling and persuasive content or messages in our trial presentations that really inspire judges, jurors and arbitrators. He takes you through every stage of a case from pretrial development of a case through closing argument. There is an interesting chapter on handling pretrial publicity. Instead of shying away from talking about pretrial jury research and trial consultants, he advocates using every legitimate source of information possible to develop the most persuasive case on behalf of a client. His premise is that the more persuasive we are in the courtroom, the more effective and more respected our jury system and court system will be. He discusses how to use scientific mock jury and arbitrator research to get a look at your case from a jury or arbitration panel perspective and then develop the case from their standpoint. The book incorporates references to scientific jury research throughout and has one long chapter devoted to explaining all the different types of focus groups and mock trial research studies that can be created to help a trial lawyer or litigation manager. I have always been a little suspicious of people who conduct private jury research before trial. Now I understand. Good book.

Davis is well equipped to write such a book. He has had 10 years of street experience responding to domestic violence calls as a cruiser officer; eight years as a police detective then sergeant; and three years as a lieutenant, training and lecturing on the subject. In addition, he writes in a lucid style, that can be easily understood by students, professionals and the general public. This book should be a major resource in understanding of the domestic violence problem and will no doubt be a text book in demand by academics.

As the former Executive Director of an agency that provides batterer intervention services to men arrested for domestic violence, this book comes as a refreshing statement. I wholly subscribe to his thesis that the criminal justice system, especially in Massachustts where Richard Davis and I both have worked, does not provide the panacea in solving domestic violence. The criminal justice system, as Richard Davis asserts, does have its place, but there is the need for greater attention and resources to go into prevention. His call for women to bcome more assertive in taking over the leadership of the society, certainly in the Legislature, is important. But the society also needs to cultivate more good men like Richard Davis so that the commitment to the reduction of violence can continue.

Domestic Violence Facts and Fallacies by R.L. Davis is a refreshing much needed look at a serious societal problem. Through the eyes of a police officer we come to see and understand the magnitude of this epidemic. Who better to speak to the subject than a police officer, someone who experiences and witnesses it daily in the course of their duties. I found the author gets right to the heart of the problem as no other has. As a 20 year police veteran I found the book compelling. reading.

I did not think it was such a great book. I was wandering where is she going with this, what is her point. It is describing a woman struggling in society, trying to find her soul, something that makes her happy, and it would not be a good Dutch book if at least not some sex was involved. As I said, some parts are well written and makes this book an interesting read.

I read "The Laws" and Connie Palmen's other two books, "The Friendship" and "I.M.". They have all appeared with the German Publisher "Diogenes". Although I read them in German, I think I can comment on their beautiful prose. She walks a tight rope: intellectually she is so incredibly sharp that nothing escapes her objective analysis, while her intense sensibilities give every story a subjective, deeply emotional edge. Although her work is heavy-hearted, it is very satisfying and her message is positive.

This books has a different style that is very intimate like a diary, but universal in what it portraits . A very intriguing and exquisite combination that explicits the talent of the author , who makes her readers eager to flavour more of her work.

In The Problematics of Moral and Legal Theory, Judge Richard Posner asks a critical question: can moral philosophy ever help the practice of law? Posner answers this question with a resounding no.

Take a simple example. Suppose that a robber is shot dead at the scene of the crime and, the shooter is charged with murder. Should he be convicted? A pacifist might say yes, since killing is always wrong. Others would say no, since he acted in self defense (killing is not always wrong). Others would say that it depends on whether he was threatened.

If you were the judge or the jury, who should you believe? Posner argues that you will believe the person who most closely approximates your preconceived beliefs. In other words, a pacifist prosecutor will have a hard time convincing anyone who believes in self-defense, since each and every moral philosophy can be countered by another moral philosophy.

Posner goes on to argue that moral philosophy can help us with things that we all agree on, like "democracy is good" and "freedom should be protected." The problem is that no case before a court ever deals with such broad disputes. Instead, each side lines up its moral arguments, and the judge basically ignores them all. Posner also shows that moral philosophy is of some use in changing what people agree is right, as with Martin Luther King, Jr.

In the down and dirty disputes before a judge, though, Posner says that we have to rely more on our gut reaction, economics, and sociology than moral theory. The judge must ask, "If I did X, would society be better off?" Posner calls this legal pragmatism, the hope that the law can be rationalized along empirical grounds. He is careful to distinguish this stance from philosophical pragmatism and moral relativism. The former worries only about ends, while Posner explicitly worries about means, and the latter would not allow anyone to ever say that "murder is wrong." Posner has no problem with moral precepts that everyone agrees with.

The downside of this book is that it is way too long. The first few chapters outline most of his argument, and the rest of the book deals with legal history and particular examples from supreme court cases. Law students might find these parts worthwhile. Those who are interested in philosophy and law should read this book, as should those who want a look at how judges think and work. Whether you agree with him or not, his exploration of the topic is cool and complete.

Posner is always enjoyable to read and this book is no exception. Readers who are not current on discussions about moral philosophy and law will find Posner a lucid and accessible point of entry. However, my first reaction is Posner assumes
pragmatis is morally neutral and an adequate framework for the law.
First, values already underscores "pragmatism;" thus, any attempt to apply pragmatics to the law has already been contaminated by values that can probably only be properly analyzed and understood through moral philosophy. Hence, moral philosophy is an indispensible tool for critical analysis of the law.
Second, "pragmatism" is inadequate in forming an analytical framework for the law, particularly with the most difficult questions of the law. Questions about euthanasia, abortion, equal rights, etc. are densely moral and political which pragmatism will contribute little.
Overall an enjoyable book but a flawed idea. It will influence many readers but "The Problematics of Moral and Legal Philosphy" should be read with skepticism. Everyone reading this book should also read "Modern and the Holocaust" by Zymunt Bauman for a counter point to why moral philsophy, which probably raises more questions than it answers, should always be central to any discussion about the law.

Don't believe any criticisms of this book that it advocates moral relativism or insensitive pragmatism. What Posner is driving at is the removal of moral theory from the practice of law. Translated: the removal of the politicization of law whether of the left variety [egalitarianism, redistributionism] or the right variety [natural law]. This sounds like anti-moralism, but it is not. Posner wants law to return to its role as the blind judge balancing the scales of justice rather than the judicial usurper of democracy. Posner wants a rational approach to law as opposed to the current masking of its role as a dispenser of goods for the "interest group state." Highly recommended. Wayne Lusvardi, Pasadena, California

This book gives a good introduction to the world of Vip protection. It mainly centers on the United Kingdom and the United States, but does touch on a few other countries. More detail on the other countries would have made it an excellent book. For the reader who is looking for specifics on how to conduct Vip protection, this book does not provide that. It gives a history of how the industry has evolved and the types of problems faced. It is written in a style which makes for enjoyable reading.

I m the chief of the security details division of Turkish Presidential Protection Department.

I bought this book from Washington D.C. during the Turkish President's visit to USA for NATO Summit in 1999. This book has so many interesting details and stories about VIP Protection World. I learned to much (Especially about Secret Service). There are very educative details about Secret Service and I think it will give very important lessons to other countries Protection Teams.

I recommend this book to everybody especially who want to learn what is real VIP Protection.

By this chance I would like to thank Richard O'Connor for this beatiful book.

Sincerely

Hasan ALSANCAK

Inspector

Turkish Presidential Protection Department

A book packed with detail on the world of close protection and sure to create much debate. The author takes an independent view and approache's the subject with a view of been impartial. He certainly achieved his objective and I was unable to put the book down and unfortunately finished reading it in three days. His ability of providing information never published before but also using that information so as to give the reader a real view of life as a bodyguard is excellent. If you have ever been interested in the world of close protection or just interested in how VIP's use bodyguards this ais a must get book.