I believe you said you were in a Bible study group. Did you see the recent article in The Chronicle on the Judas gospel? It's pretty interesting. It is online at http://chronicle.com/free/v54/i38/38b006...
Jill

Lähettänyt: nbmars 3:06 pm (EST) Jun 5, 2008

Did you see Cass Sunstein is leaving for Harvard Law? Already there is concern on how that will affect the rankings!
Jill

Lähettänyt: nbmars 10:29 pm (EST) Feb 19, 2008

Jim is much too thoughtful and deliberate to respond right away, but I don't have those problems. I checked the Jack Miles book out - it looks great; I'm putting it on our Amazon list. Also I thought you might be interested in the following: we have gotten three pictures from http://www.onepagebooks.com . They put Shakespeare's plays on one page. They're truly wonderful (even though we can no longer read writing that small without major magnification!). We took the "mounted and laminated" option, and they really look quite nice. And we love them because they are, after all, Shakespeare. You're very impressive to try to conquer all the plays and books of the Bible. Your group must be fun. Jim posted his Kugel review in our review section.

Jill (nbmars)

Lähettänyt: nbmars 7:41 pm (EST) Dec 31, 2007

SfClay,
Thanks for the referral to The Green Bag. I have come across it intermittently, and have read some of those articles reprinted in blawgs.. (I follow the U of C faculty blog, Legal Times blog, Volokh Conspiracy, and Wall St. J. law blog, inter alia, and they tend to scan the legal universe pretty well for fun and interesting things.) But now that The Green Bag has an email newsletter, it is certainly worth a[nother] subscription!

I enjoyed the “Sunstein 1s and 2s.” Way back in 1992, when I had free Wexis and nothing better to do, I did a citation study of articles cited by Supreme Court cases from August 1, 1989 through July 31, 1992 (I was looking for any use of articles associated with the Critical Legal Studies movement). The most frequently cited article was “Law and Administration After Chevron” by Sunstein. And I should note that the most frequently cited journal was none other than the “Harvard Law Review,” in spite of Posner’s fatuous assertion that it “is on the way to becoming a laughing stock” (Overcoming Law, p. 77). (And in case you’re wondering, my finding was that the incidence of citations of legal scholarship generated by CLS was “hardly ever.”)

Thanks again for the referral!
Jill (nbmars)

Lähettänyt: nbmars 4:03 pm (EST) Dec 19, 2007

Since you said you were interested in John Keegan, I would recommend "The Face of Battle" first. It is his most innovative book. Both the First World War and the Second World War are also exceptionally perceptive and interesting. The History of Warefare is also quite good, with some interesting perspectives on primitive warefare. His book on the war in Iraq was written right after the invasion, before the insurgency began, and so it seems a bit premature. The Price of Admiralty and the Mask of Command aren't as good, but if you become a fan of his, you will enjoy the books.

I was never in the military, which may explain my fascination for stories of warefare. My son, however, was in the army, and he too is a devotee of Keegan. My wife is strongly anti-military, but she still likes Keegan's writing.

I am just finishing "How to Read the Bible," by James L. Kugel, a professor of religion at Harvard. It's a very learned, witty, and intelligent presentation. I think it is an accomplishment for an Orthodox Jew to write a book about the Bible that is very enjoyable for an irreligious former Catholic to enjoy.

Drop us a line every once in a while. We enjoyed your comments.

nbmars's husband

Lähettänyt: nbmars 6:27 pm (EST) Dec 17, 2007

I'm the husband, but I'm not nearly as prolific as my wife. She is a librarian. I was graduated in 1967 [a few years ahead of you]. My classmates included one of the FBI's ten most wanted, a Prime minister of New Zealand, a general counsel of General Motors, a notorious U. S. Attorney General, 13 law professors, a former president of the American Bar Association, 1 Congressman, a U. S. senator, and 3 or 4 federal judges. Most of the rest of us had decent careers and are content, retired, or both. Your class profile will probably be pretty similar in 35 years.

It is gratifying to see another U. of C. law grad with enough of a life outside his or her job to read as many books as you have. I am currently reading [inter alia] Dick Posner's "Overcoming Law," which was a N.Y. Times choice for the best book of 1995. Posner has become much more nuanced over the years, and is not nearly as doctrinaire in the law and economics movement as he once was. My wife hates him, but she has never read any of his books. She just argues with me and attributes my "enlightened" thought to Posner and his ilk. Actually, I was ahead of Posner in school [he went to Harvard before becoming a member of the "Chicago School"]. I did, however, have Aaron Director as one of the profs for Competition and Monopoly [as we called antitrust law in the old days], who had a greater influence on my thinking.

I hope you had a chance to take a tax course from Wally Blum, who was one of the best teachers and delightful human beings I have met. If you did, I'd be interested in having your opinion about him. He would have been in his 80's by the time you went to school. We all deteriorate after a certain age.

Best wishes, nbmars's husband

Lähettänyt: nbmars 10:10 pm (EST) Dec 8, 2007