What Books to Read Next - for Amateur

As a complete greenhorn and tenderfoot to law, I'm thinking of studying law at the university level and want to ask for further book recommendations after having read:

Law, A Very Short Introduction (I found this verbose, even.) - R Wacks
Letters to a Law Student - N McBride
How the Law Works - G Slapper
What About Law?: Studying Law at University - C Bernard

I was going to continue with http://www.amazon.co.uk/Glanville-Williams-Learning-Fifteenth-Edition/dp/0414028236, but this Amazon review of the older version (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Glanville-Williams-Learning-ATH-Smith/dp/0414041739/ref=pd_cp_b_1) claims that there's "flowery prose" and "It may be a little bit heavy going at first, especially if you have never studied law before, but the language is quite accessible and if you read through it 2 or 3 times before your course".

I'd prefer something written simply, easily, forthrightly, painly, limpidly, and lucently. Please recommend?

Reply 1

Maura Kat

Original post by fpcjord

the book by McBride is a total waste of money.
its heavily priced but its content is a bunch of rubbish.
the other books you mentioned are really good.
you might want to read this too.
http://Marcel Berlins - The Law Machine http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Law-Mach...arning+the+law

don't just stick to books.
read law judgments too.
see if you can read multiple pages of judgments for a long period of time.
if you can't handle the workload now at this very premature stage then...............
don't bother doing law. consider another course of studies.

anyways the following cases are a good intro.
Contract Law
http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/1892/1.html

Tort Law
http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKHL/1932/100.html

Criminal Law
http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKHL/1998/28.html

Reply 2

vimto39

If you want simple then Letters to a Law Student is excellent, along with What about Law for a general overview. Both are limiting, however, and not particularly exciting. Go to Amazon, search something simple like 'Law' and just look at ones you like the look of - buy, read, assimilate - and then buy further books as your interests and curiosity broadens. Which it will, more so than buying the standard texts. Don't be naive and just read up on Criminal, or you'll be in for a shock when you start your course.

My favourite general resource on the net is this - again, just hit 'random topic' and see where it takes you. Guardian Law pages, here, are also excellent. If you can't be bothered visiting a Court (which you really should do before applying) see here for a live feed of the UK Supreme Court to see if you can bare with the pace of an actual case, although the SC is a little different.

Ultimately though, if you decide you do want to do Law don't read books like you mention in your post - in order to be a successful Law student, and beyond that a Barrister or Solicitor (if this is the case), then you need to read as widely as possible in economics, politics, philosophy, history and then more specialised and advanced legal-related texts. Popular economic/political/philosophical/smart-thinking texts such as Freakonomics or The Big Short or The Pig that Wants to be Eaten are a good place to start.

Might be worth getting some broader context about certain areas of Law before dipping your toes into the judgement's poster above suggests.

By the sounds of it, you need to read more even if merely to improve your vocabulary anyway, so just pick books you're interested in is the best advice.

What Books to Read Next - for Amateur

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