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Customer Reviews (4)

Inspiring and Humbling
This is a fantastic and accessible tour through the work of one of the greatest prose stylists of the 20th century--within the law or outside it.Holmes's style is clear-eyed without being cynical, concrete without being simplistic, and erudite without being pedantic. Just when a thought threatens to become wispy and indefinite, Holmes nails it down with a perfect metaphor.

This collection covers a wide range of Holmes's seemingly inexhaustible interests: literature, history, economics, science, and, of course, the law.The introduction by Judge Posner is excellent.

After reading this, I am eager to read more about Holmes and even more eager to read more Holmes.

A must for those interested in Holmes and Free Minds
This selection made by Posner gives us an interesting and different approach to Judge Holmes which allow us to discover not only the Judge but the most intimate thoughts of the writer and philosoper who Holmes was.

A must for those interested in Law and Freedom and the human beings who, as Holmes, had no fears to develop a free spirit and to be free individuals.

This is an Excellent Read!
The Essential Holmes, edited by Richard A. Posner (judge on the seventh circuit) collects the thoughts of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. via his numerous letters, court opinions, law journal articles and miscelleneous writings. It is a daunting task as Holmes was quite well-learned and something of a polymath, discoursing on everything from metaphysical philosophy to economics to law.

Posner, though, does a great job in editing the letters and pasting the relevant sections into easily digestible sections loosely related to the chapter's 'theme.' Posner's goal, to be sure, is to focus more on Holmes the philosopher, and i'm sure law students (who may know Holmes the Justice best) will thrill at the chance to really see how his philosophy - sympathetic with American pragmatism - extends into his thoughts on law. About the first half of the book is devoted to Holmes's philosophy on everything from metaphysics to the 'life struggle' and 'social struggle.' The second half segues the more theoretical sections into Holmes's views on statutory and common law, the interpretative 'theory' of both, and Holmes's ever contreversial and confusing views on individual liberty.

As the reader will find (or may already know) Holmes's social, ethical, and metaphysical philosophy is something of an individualistic relativism. Dreams of any final theory are suspect, and the social order is not much more than each person operating in self-interest, clashing with other people (doing the same) in something of a never-ending Darwinian struggle. From this (and the fact that Holmes believed all morality to be local and relative to context), law should not be seen as being gotten from some 'natural law'-like moral order, but should be disconnected from morality; rather, it should be seen as humankind's way of deriving regularity from the clashes of human interest in a neat little fiat. The law, then, is simply what the soveriegn says it is.

This (among other things) has made Holmes out to be something of a bad guy. To be sure, he can come off as crass and 'pre-post-modern.' But Holmes is also refreshingly real (at least to my eyes, as I am a philosophic ptragmatist through and through). It is becasue Holmes saw that there is no universal standard of 'natural law' or other such 'free-floating' fictions that he was such a believer in judicial restraint - holding to the constitution even when he personally disagreed. Many of those cases (Lochner, etc.) are included in this volume.

The only two things I was disappointed did not get more time was Holmes's first amendment views which are notoriously hard to decipher, and the conflict between his simultenous support of a 'living constitution' and his belief in judicial restraint. Both are conflicts that even the best of scholars wade through confusedly (never able to resolve their tensions), and it would have been nice to see a bit more focus on these two areas.

Of course, Posner is not at fault as this is an edited collection which can only provide what Holmes said; maybe he simply never resolved these two views.

To conclude, this is a great and artfully done collection that focuses more on Holmes's philosophy (from metaphysics to ethics) than do most of Holmes's collections. For those that know Posner, he is awfully sympathetic in idea to Holmes and his intro, though, breif is first rate; the selections, also, are fantastically picked. This book is not to be missed by lawyers who want some philosophy, and philosophers that want some law. Holmes was just amazingly skilled at both.

Genius!
Posner, who is arguably today's most influential legal thinker, has put together an invaluable collection of Justice Holmes' most memorable writings.The combo of Posner selecting Holmes is powerful: the selections invariably present the brilliant Holmes on timeless legal topics. So much brain power is frightening, and we are lucky to be able to get it all in one fairly short book.All the more remarkable is howHolmes' ideas have not aged a bit; the similarities between Holmes and Posner are obvious.

This book is a must for academically-inclined lawyers, judges and professors. ... Read more

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Known as the "Great Dissenter," Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. wrote some of the most eloquent opinions in the history of the United States Supreme Court. A brilliant legal mind who served on the high court into his nineties, Holmes was responsible for some of the most important judicial opinions of the twentieth century.
Now, in this superb short biography, G. Edward White offers readers a lively, informative portrait of this singular individual. The book first sketches Holmes's early years--his childhood in Boston, his undergraduate years at Harvard (which his father and both grandfathers also attended), and his valiant service in the Civil War, during which he was severely wounded three times. After the war, Holmes went into private law practice, wrote his landmark treatise The Common Law in 1881, had a short tenure on the Harvard Law School faculty, and spent 20 years as a judge on the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts before being named to the U.S. Supreme Court. The author focuses on his remarkable 30-year service as a Supreme Court Justice, beginning in 1902, and details Holmes's most significant cases--Abrams v. United States, Northern Securities Co. v. United States, Lochner v. New York, Schenck v. United States, and others--which limited working hours, set a mandatory minimum wage, protected women's rights, legalized labor unions, and defined freedom of speech. These decisions--as well as The Common Law--are highly regarded to this day.
A new volume in the Lives and Legacy series, this marvelous short biography offers an ideal introduction to a towering figure in American law. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A Fine Concise Biography of the Justice
Who better to write a short biography of Justice Holmes than the author of the virtually definitive major biography of the Justice, "Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes: Law and the Inner Self."This short biography is part of Oxford's "Lives and Legacies" series.I had some concern that the book would either be so short as to not really discuss much detail about Holmes, or that it would be so simplified for a more general audience as to lose the incisive vigor of White's previous books on Holmes.Happily, neither fear was confirmed: there is plenty of meat on the skeleton and, while White takes time to explain some key legal concepts for the non-specialist, his analysis still sparkles.

The book stands as a superb brief introduction to the Justice and some of his key contributions.There are eleven pages of helpful notes; some interesting photographs; a chronology; and a bibliography for further reading. Also quite helpful is the use of what White terms "sidebars," which are extended quotes from Holmes' letters and opinions, so that the reader gets a sense of Holmes writing styles.Wisely, White does not try to cram too much into this short book--he well covers OWH prior to his appointment, and limits his discussion of the Justice's Supreme Court opinions to a few areas such as free speech.He also takes aim at the Holmes as "the great dissenter" image, and explains how Frankfurther and other disciples used "The New Republic" and other publicity devices to create the "Yankee from Olympus" image we associate with OWH.

There is just a tremendous amount of useful information contained within 137 pages of text.The writing flows well and is quite interesting even to those of us who have gone many rounds with the Justice.A small jewel to be sure. ... Read more

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The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes - Volume 12: Verses from the Oldest Portfolio is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by Oliver Wendell Holmes is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of Oliver Wendell Holmes then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. ... Read more

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This Elibron Classics book is a reprint of a 1893 edition by George Routledge and Sons, London. In this collection of essays, Holmes presents his ideas on various topics via the Autocrat, the leader of discussions on philosophy, science, and social issue ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Musings of a Varied and Sundry Nature
This is a delightful little work.Comprising a series of articles published in the Atlantic Monthly in the 1850s, The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table is a rambling but never disjointed first-person narrative of "conversations" between the narrator (the "Autocrat" from the title) and his fellow boarders in a Boston boarding house.I use the term "conversations" because the work is primarily monological, with the other boarders chiming in only infrequently to interrupt the Autocrat's musings and observations.

The Autocrat is learned and urbane.He speaks intelligently on a diverse array of topics, including the rules governing the art of conversation (including the "pun-question", which he dismisses as "verbicide"), horse racing, writing, deja vu, the superior ability of the olfactory sense in recalling old memories, old age or "senectitude", laughter, poetry, knowledge, the benefits of rowing, boxing, hats, trees and other topics.Interspersed throughout the work are collections of verse as well.

While not a page-turner, I found myself reasonably engaged throughout the work with two exceptions: (1) there are a couple of passages in French (I have no French), one of which is fairly long and (2) the budding and finally flowering romance at the end of the work I found to be rather dull reading and somewhat superfluous, given the nature of the work.

While reading this book I felt as though I had escaped from my overly-structured, hectic existence - and the collection of (often vulgar) characters that pass uninvited across the stage of my life - to become a part of the much simpler yet richer world of the Autocrat.Time slowed down.Reflection and conversation were the order of the day.I realized with regret that the deliberate reflection that nourishes a flow of ideas, and from which yet new ideas oft emerge, had at some point been demoted in my own life to the status of a luxury.

A Rare Treat.
"The Autocrat" is convoluted but remarkable nevertheless. First published in 1858, it is still refreshing. Don't wince at the potential for the rigid corset-style of Victorianism.Holmes casts it aside and even surprises you with the typeface in one instance. His language is often refreshing and is usually easy to read. Whether or not it is original or not I cannot say, but I recognize some of Holmes's words as influencing later writers, like Irvin Cobb and H.L. Mencken, and I imagine he influenced many more.

Holmes writes charmingly. He is funny and philosophical. He also manages to transport the reader to an earlier Boston and New England. The only thing lacking is a plot.

Holmes was an alumnus of Philips Academy in Andover, MA, and the library there is named after him. I'm going out on a limb here, but I think it was his genius and not his munificence that was being commemorated.

PS: Do not confuse him with his son, Junior -- the famous justice of the Supreme Court.

Wonderful in some ways, but . . .
Delightful, because his ideas are so modern and so all-encompassing-the man thought about everything!-and yet expressed in a form genial and classical, and as non-dogmatic as you can get.His tongue-in-cheek style is a charming context for such far-ranging thinking.A grand insight into into the mind of a real American ante-bellum intellectual.

But it is so endlessly rambling that I kept getting confused.Why divide it into 12 sections, when each section is indistinguishable from the others?If there is any theme or system to the material, I lost it in the intellectual underbrush.Also his style is rather turgid, even for the 1850s; I find it easy to read his contemporaries Dickens and Carroll, but I found myself having to go back from time to time to sort out Holmes' grammar.

If you feel at home in unstructured literature, you will find much to love in the Autocrat.If not, maybe not.

Thoughts and the Times From 1850
An interesting range of thoughtful opinions, imbedded in a look at American life in the 1850s, by the father of a future Supreme Court Associate Justice.Part of the charm of this book is in the fact that at that time horses had been the only means of human-assisted transportation for the last few thousand years (with the exception of the new-fangled railroad which was changing the world).Electronics were not even imagined.Automobiles were 50 years into the future.

Delightful
Two oral practices flourished in antebellum America: the lecture (or sermon) and the conversation. Lectures, such as Emerson's "The American Scholar" and sermons, such as the abolitionist sermons of Henry Ward Beecher, are well-known examples of this era.But it was also known as the Golden Age of Conversation, and its greatest practitioner was generally agreed to be Oliver Wendell Holmes, Senior.

Holmes was considered an important American writer until the 1920s when he was excised from the American canon by the modernists. They depicted him as willfully provincial, and elitist.What those critics failed to understand was that the Autocrat is also a comic pose, and that Holmes is making sport of everyone, including elitists. Holmes'democratic view of conversation as an open, free-wheeling discourse where anyone could join the Autocrat at his table, as long as they enlivened the conversation, ran counter to the views ofhis more elitist friends in Boston'sSaturday Club in Boston.Holmes loved to talk, and his love for talk made him a democrat, or perhaps a true republican.

His Autocrat is a many sided character: stern and foolish, admonitory and celebratory, a polymorph who will don any temporaty mask necessary to keep the conversation alive. Holmes'playful metaphorical imagination is also a revelation. His gift for translating complex ideas into homey metaphors, aphorisms, and similes is nothing short of miraculous.In the words of another seriously comic American whom I'm sure Holmes would have delighted in, the Autocrat "floats like a butterfly, stings like a bee."

The Autocrat of the Breakfast table begins "in media res," in the middle of a conversation, with the Autocrat attempting to set the rules for conversation at his table.They are generous rules, but even they are open to sabotage by his tablemates at the boarding house. He begins by banning "facts" from his table as impediments to conversation, (a condition that should prevail on today's too numerous current event talking head shows. But I, like the Autocrat, digress).

Here's how the Autocrat starts:"I was just going to say, when I was interrupted, that one of the many ways of classifying minds is under the head of arithmetical and algebraical intellects.All economical and practical wisdom is an extension of the following arithmetical formula: 2 + 2 = 4.Every philosophical proposition has the more general character of the expressiona + b = c.We are mere operatives, empirics, and egoists, until we learn to think in letters instead of figures." "They all stared.There is a divinity student lately come among us to whom I commonly address remarks like this. "

In other words, as Gibian says in his marvelous OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES AND THE CULTURE OF CONVERSATION:[The Autocrat] only asks us to study his beliefs the way a pragmatist would study the doctrines of any religion: "I don't want you to believe anything I say; I only want you to to try to see what makes me believe it." How refreshing in this age of factoids and statisticoids recited with rancor and ideological certitude, to hear the Autocrat and his tablemates at the boarding house attempting to fashion a democracy through and by their conversation.Nowadays all we have are the unironic Autocrats, control freaks like John McLaughlin, Ted Koppel, Rush Limbaugh, and that guy on FOX whose name I have, pleasantly, forgotten.

Listening to the Autocrat you can almost hear American singing.It's not exactly Walt Whitman's America,but it's still America in the hopeful, experimental antebellum era, and thus a good antidote to the cold technocratic chatter and lukewarm public relations cant we are showered with in this hypermediated century. ... Read more

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I take it for granted that no hearer of mine will misinterpret what I have to say as the language of cynicism. The law is the witness and external deposit of our moral life. Its history is the history of the moral development of the race. The practice of it, in spite of popular jests, tends to make good citizens and good men. When I emphasize the difference between law and morals I do so with reference to a single end, that of learning and understanding the law. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

The Rorschach Test of the Law: Great Gift for Anyone Going into Law
Note: Amazon has grouped together reviews of several different editions of this book; this review is for The Path of the Law (Little Books of Wisdom).

More than a century after it was written, this is still the most important essay about law ever written, in part because lawyers are still arguing over exactly what it means.People from all across the political spectrum have used it to buttress their ideological arguments, which to my NON-legally trained mind ought to constitute something of a warning.

Of course the most basic reason for this is that one of the axes Holmes has grinding here is a brief in favor of the school of thought known as legal pragmatism, the idea that law can (and SHOULD) be separated from logic, from history, and most important of all from morality.Up to a point this is simply unarguable; law (like almost anything else you can imagine) can always benefit from a good dose of businesslike pragmatism.The trouble comes when you take pragmatism too far, as you must when you are trying to justify replacing God with Darwin.There is an old joke among philosophers about how Pragmatism was rejected because it didn't work; there's a reason Social Darwinism so often ends in gulags and mass graves.The trouble is that while pragmatism makes for a good basic approach to law (or anything else for that matter), it is no substitute for basic principles.Morals free "survival of the fittest" results in life that is "nasty, brutish, and short" for those who don't measure up to being the "fittest".When "might makes right" is as "good" an approach to the law as any, when if there is no constitutional provision forbidding the government to do something (and the truly creative can find their way around this condition), the people, through their elected representatives, can do pretty much any damn fool thing they please, then the pragmatic approach to law can degenerate into processing people for the death camps more efficiently.

Note: One could complain that this book is available online for free.Well, yes, what part of in the public domain do you not understand?However, trying to get away with giving someone a printout as a gift will earn you the nickname of cheapskate.If all you want to do is read it yourself, then by all means stick to the free sites.However, if you are looking for a way to get through to someone else, you are better off buying a copy, and a solitary sawbuck for this sturdy pocket-sized reprint is going to be tough to beat.The chief virtue of it being online is your ability to read it first and make sure that this is the book you want to give before ordering it.

Note: Applewood Books has produced a nice looking inexpensive series of sturdy pocket-sized reprints of important American books, documents, speeches, pamphlets, and poems, the Little Books of Wisdom, uniform with this volume, that are ideal for gifting to doctors, lawyers, teachers, business professionals, and students of same: The Way to Wealth, George Washington's Rules of Civility & Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation, The Constitution of the United States of America, On the Art of Teaching, The Poems of Abraham Lincoln, The Bill of Rights with Writings That Formed Its Foundation, The Strenuous Life, The Constitution of the Confederate States of America, The Jefferson Bible: The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth, A Message to Garcia, A Declaration of Sentiments, Robert's Rules of Order, Good Citizenship, On Being Human, A Discourse Upon the Duties of a Physician, The Declaration of Independence with Short Biographies of Its Signers, Teamwork, Stick-To-Itiveness, Opportunity, & You, The Wants of Man, George Washington's Farewell Address, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, The Speech of Chief Seattle, Common Sense, The Articles of Confederation, The Emancipation Proclamation, and The Gospel of Wealth.

Some selected volumes are also available in boxed sets: Books of American Wisdom Boxed Set, CEO's Gift Box of Wisdom, Doctor's Gift Box of Wisdom, Lawyer's Gift Box of Wisdom, New Citizen's Gift Box of Wisdom, and Teacher's Gift Box of Wisdom.

And some have been published in Spanish: Un Mensaje a Garcia and Constitucion de Los Estados Unidos.

Not Printable!!!
The information is incorrect!You can't print this thing out!Had I known that, I would've dropped the $8 on a paper copy!

Great, short book
I believe this book is transcribed from a speech given by Holmes to a group of lawyers, judges, scholars at HLS.It is Holmes' prediciton for the future of the law and it is extremely prescient.For anyone interestedin the law it is a must read, and at about 34 pages a very quick andenjoyable one. ... Read more

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So writes the man whose life we are to pass in review, and it is certainly as true of him as of any author we could name. He delineates himself so perfectly in his various writings that the careful reader sees his nature just as it was in all its essentials, and has little more to learn than those human accidents which individualize him in space and time. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A realistic biography
Oliver Wendell Holmes describes Emerson as an intellectual mystic, as opposed to an emotional one.This probably places Emerson very much in line with Holmes' own temperament -- this Holmes is the father of the famous and intellectually accomplished Supreme Court justice; Holmes, Sr. was himself a medical doctor and man of letters in New England.What Holmes describes as intellectual mysticism as opposed to emotional mysticism shows that Emerson never lost a realistic grounding of his beliefs, and always kept a firm grasp on things such as common sense and self reliance.

Joel Porte introduces the text, written in 1885, talking about the odd choice the rationalist Holmes must have seemed to the Transcendentalist canonisers who would have wanted a more sympathetic character.However, Holmes' overall personality made him an ideal biographer, with much more credibility in the end than a true-believing disciple of Emerson would have had in a similar biographical effort.Both Holmes and Emerson were seekers after truth, and in such had a similar spirit; both also had a good sense for the ridiculous, and managed to remain level-headed among otherwise unstable environments.

Holmes identifies Emerson as belonging to the New England 'Academic' race -- Emerson is a name that is common among academics and ministers generation after generation.This kind of inheritance is more than just cultural in Emerson's view, and in Holmes' view, who before addressing his subject, looks at the several generations back of Emerson's forebears.

Emerson finds inspiration in the things about him -- in nature, in society, and in himself.Emerson has a deep and abiding concern for the transcendent unity of all things, and that there is a spirit in the world that keeps the world together.Emerson was born into a society at a unique period, a coalescing of the first truly American generation of thinkers.While Emerson was not a particularly outstanding student in college, he nonetheless developed ways of writing, thinking and speaking that made him a prominent intellectual figure in his own time, and a mystical/religious figure as well.

Holmes had the advantage of having known Emerson enough to be able to render some personal and candid observations.After giving a general historical narrative of his life, complete with extracts from writings and correpondence, Holmes reflects on various aspects of Emerson's life, including his general personality and habits.Emerson's voice had charm both in personal conversation as well as in lecture and pulpit settings.Emerson often spoke with hesitation, according to Holmes, prefering the momentary silence to find the right word over using the wrong or less-appropriate word.These kinds of observations make Holmes' volume one of real value.

In discussing Emerson's mystical side, Holmes rarely has sympathy, but does not denigrate Emerson's own belief system. 'The knowledge, if knowledge it be, of the mystic is not transmissible,' Holmes states.It cannot be compiled and built upon by others, but is created anew in each seeker.Emerson's view of science is probably similar to Holmes' view of mysticism.

Overall, this is an excellent biography of Emerson, great at giving insight into the author, Holmes, as well. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

The Complete Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes
Very simple: the print is not clear....some of the letters in the words are not completely "inked"...maybe the publisher thought this was more "historical" but it is a major distraction and if I had sent the book before I bought it, I wouldn't have.

The right format!!!
I just bought this off of Kindle, and I was a little scared that it would not have the correct line breaks like some poems that have been transferred onto Kindle. I am happy to inform you that this Kindle version of Holmes' poetry does have the correct line breaks and shows the poem just as it would have been read on a page! ... Read more

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The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes - Volume 09: the Iron Gate and Other Poems is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by Oliver Wendell Holmes is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of Oliver Wendell Holmes then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. ... Read more

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Oliver Wendell Holmes (from Literary Friends and Acquaintance) is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by William Dean Howells is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of William Dean Howells then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. ... Read more

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John Lothrop Motley, A Memoir - Complete is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by Oliver Wendell Holmes is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of Oliver Wendell Holmes then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. ... Read more

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A Mortal Antipathy: first opening of the new portfolio is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by Oliver Wendell Holmes is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of Oliver Wendell Holmes then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. ... Read more

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The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes - Volume 10: Before the Curfew is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by Oliver Wendell Holmes is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of Oliver Wendell Holmes then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. ... Read more

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The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes - Volume 11: Poems from the Teacups Series is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by Oliver Wendell Holmes is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of Oliver Wendell Holmes then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. ... Read more

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The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes - Volume 04: Songs in Many Keys is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by Oliver Wendell Holmes is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of Oliver Wendell Holmes then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. ... Read more

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This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

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The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes - Volume 06: Poems from the Breakfast Table Series is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by Oliver Wendell Holmes is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of Oliver Wendell Holmes then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. ... Read more

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The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes - Volume 07: Songs of Many Seasons is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by Oliver Wendell Holmes is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of Oliver Wendell Holmes then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. ... Read more

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White goes beyond the labels to give readers a rounded portrait of this remarkable jurist. Covering Holmes' early life and time at Harvard, his ambivalent relationship with his father, and Civil War service, White also examines Holmes' childless marriage and his reputation as a preeminent legal figure. 14 halftones. Map. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A wonderful book. Very detailed but also lucid.
Two apsects strike me in reading about Holmes. First is his life. What a great subject. Holmes is almost as exciting to read about as Lincoln. The second is his jurisprudence. White does a fine job covering both. I likeWhite's style. Somewhat loose but never inaccurate, his biography is veryreadable.

Two chapters: The Supreme Court of Massachusetts and the"Progressive Judge" are so wonderfully written that they deserveto be read twice.

I read the book over a period of four months which issomething I rarely do. This is because the subject and content are soimportant that the philosophy of Holmes takes some time to perculate.White's description of Holmes influenced my perspective greatly.

I wouldrecommend the book to any person interested in law or simply about America. ... Read more

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This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

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A whole new take on Holmes' classic study of law and judicial development of rules: "the life of the law has not been logic: it has been experience." Annotated throughout with straightforward clarifications — decoding and demystifying it for the first time — it's accessible to a new generation of readers. Features 2010 Foreword and extensive notes by Steven Alan Childress, a law professor at Tulane. Active Table of Contents, linked footnotes with correct numbers, and original page numbers for citing. Careful proofreading and formatting, unlike any digital or online version previously available. Contains rare photographs and biographical section as well.

As lamented by Holmes' premier biographer in 2006, The Common Law "is very likely the best-known book ever written about American law. But it is a difficult, sometimes obscure book, which today’s lawyers and law students find largely inaccessible." No longer. With hundreds of insertions and simple definitions of the original's language and concepts, this version makes it live for college students (able to "get it" at last, with legal terms explained), plus law students, lawyers, and anyone wanting to understand his great book. No prior edition, even in print, has annotations; even without the notes, Quid Pro offers the only digital or online versions that respect Holmes by being accurate.

Answer Key to using the other digital or online versions: docs=does, modem=modern, tiling=thing, ease=case, casement=easement, duly=duty. Etc. However, their book docs one tiling that no modem version of Holmes docs:it brings the eases to lite for those reacling it. And you saved S bucks!

All prior digital and online sources — sold or free — are simply wrong and unusable (e.g., over 250 footnote 1's, none linked; and repeatedly missing crucial words from the inside margins). They trace back to one poor scan job, even a "2006 corrected" edition.The new Google Books site omits half the pages, randomly, then uses nonstandard page numbers, all in a static form.

Finally fixed from the original 1881 source, and updated to bring the text alive to modern readers, this ebook is both usable and affordable.

Oliver Wendell Holmes compiled his master work in 1881 from lectures on the origins, reasoning, and import of the common law. It jump-started legal realism and established law as a pragmatic way to solve problems and make policy, not just a bucket of rules. It has stood the test of time as one of the most important and influential studies of law. This book is interesting for a vast audience, including historians, students, and political scientists. It is also a recommended read before law school or in the first year of law study.

Quid Pro's Legal Legends Series offers high-quality digital editions of legal scholarship, with active footnotes and contents. In addition, each book contains a scholar's new Foreword, to place the works in historical context and explain the work to readers. A non-annotated ebook is also available in the Series, likewise proofed and corrected with care. A paperback edition of this annotated resource is available at multiple retail outlets and online.

Steven Alan Childress is the Conrad Meyer III Professor of Law at Tulane Law School and coauthor of the three-volume treatise, Federal Standards of Review (LexisNexis, 4th ed. 2010). He received his law degree from Harvard and a Ph.D. and M.A. in Jurisprudence & Social Policy from Berkeley. He served as the editor for another Series work, Warren & Brandeis' The Right to Privacy. ... Read more