Book Review

This weekend was relatively leisurely.  I didn't have quite as much work to do as usual, so I took Saturday off.  I think it's the first time all year where I took an entire day away from work.  It may be the last, too, with Thanksgiving break being a possible exception.

As a result of my day away, I got to read a bit.  I finished "Becoming Justice Blackmun" and am about 2/3 to 3/4 through "Wicked," which I expect to finish in short order.  Next up is Mark Twain's autobiography.

I enjoyed "Becoming Justice Blackmun" overall, though there are a few criticisms I had.  At first, I thought the book would pretty much be "here's what we know about Warren Burger through the papers of Harry Blackmun," but it got away from that a bit later.  I'm really interested in the personality of people when I read biographies, which is not that often.  I felt like a lot of the information in the book didn't go toward Blackmun's real personality as much as I would like.  To the extent it did, I didn't really think it went deep enough.

I read "The Brethren" the summer before I started law school, so I found it fascinating to compare the two.  To the extent there was any overlap, the two books seemed to be consistent.  The Blackmun biography was a bit more favorable to Blackmun, naturally.  To the extent it painted the relationships between the justices, though, it was very consistent with "The Brethren."

The part about Blackmun's law school years was interesting.  I don't think any law student could possibly read that part without comparing law school experiences.  One illustration in the book shows his transcript, which can be interesting for any law student.  It's also heartening to look at those grades and his rank and know how successful he was.

Overall, I would recommend "Becoming Justice Blackmun," particularly for a non-lawyer who wants to learn more about how the Court works.  I would recommend "The Brethren," too, but it is a bit more dense.  I actually prefer that style, though.