The Legal Analyst: A Toolkit for Thinking about the Law *(PDF)
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. Read more
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Why Must Read The Legal Analyst: A Toolkit for Thinking about the Law?
Pros: 1. The book itself has that rare "it" factor that you look for in a so called legal thinking/intro to law book. The "it" factor that you look for in a book that can help give you that edge in law school. That book that literally changes the way you look, analyze, and understand the law. If you're looking for such a book.....this is one of those books. 1A. The author is clearly gifted....his ability to take one analogy, break it down, pause it to explain something, go back to it and break it down, and then bring it back up in another chapter but simply change the focus to another area of that analogy that you missed....is amazing. Cons: 1. Some chapters like "supressed markets" are boring and hard to grasp because they go all over the place. Some chapters like this one would have been better off sticking with one or two examples instead of 4+. 2. Each chapter has the same excact layout and format. In a short or middle length sized book that's ok, but in a book like this where it's 300 pages but becuase you have to pause, take notes, and because the book has so many words on each page it takes the time of a 600 page book to read you need to change the format up. 3. Some chapters, the last 3 or so chapters in particular, needed pictures for the equations they were going into details about. It's better to describe a mathematical equation by showing an equation not explaining it with words.
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