By Eduardo Ayala.
Normally I use this blog to give some news about our firm or share some recent research in one of our cases. Today, I make an exception. I want to use it to recommend you five amazing books I read in 2017.
ย 1.ย The conscience of a conservative, Jeff Flake.
Politically I am an independent. Maybe a little bit of libertarian. (I am not even sure myself). This book from a conservative senator, is a great model to what I think all politicians should be able to do: Speak free from party constrains; be free to criticize your own party; be free to speak based on principle and not trapped by the walls of your partyโs โideologyโ or afraid of your donors. Country over party takes reality in this book. I think senator Flake did a good job. You can disagree with his conservative thoughts (like I do) but he is a decent man who rejects the party-at-all-cost approach of the current republican party.
2. Legal writing in plain English, Bryan A. Garner.
This one was recommended to me by a former associate. It is a great book for the lawyer whose practice, like mine, requires a lot of writing. It is pretty much going back to basics and to common sense rules for writing. I highly recommend this for the beginner or expert alike. To the new lawyer, it will give the right basics, to the expert, it will refresh her/him on them.
3. His needs, her needs, Willard F. Harley, Jr.
A must read for anyone in a serious relationship (or that wants to be in one). Recommended to me by a very successful client; someone I respect a lot. The book really, in many ways, undresses you emotionally and psychologically. It is hard not to be identified in one of Harleyโs emotional categories and to recognize more lucidly what your partners are. The best investment of time that will help youย with perhaps the most important part of your life: your life partner.
4. Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, Neil DeGrasse Tyson.
This one is a jewel. I have been a DeGrasse fan for a while and of astrophysics in general. I first learned about physics in a mandatory physics class I had to take in undergrad. While I thought it was not for me, I cultivated physics reading as a hobby. In this book, DeGrasse takes you in the simplest way possible through the birth and development of our universe, from when it was one trillionth of a second old at the Big Bang to today. A must read. It has its complexities, but overall easy to understand.
5. Closed Borders, Alan Dowty.ย
Not sure how I run into this one. Probably somewhere in social media. The title resounded in me in the context of our current anti-immigrant government. In the book, Alan Dowty, a Notre Drame professor, describes the relationship between self-determination and freedom of movement. He describes how the history of humanity is a history of migration. And how the recent restrictions on migration are, in the end, a restriction to humanโs right of self-determination; a restriction of peopleโs ability and freedom to choose one social contract over another. Fascinating.
I hope you get a chance to read them and like them!
