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Reading up on law and politics on the side!
Godfather
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So i'm gonna have some downtime during the Christmas break this year, and for the first time in what seems like ages, my family is sticking around the home for the holidays, which is actually a bit refreshing for a change!
Now granted, I already have quite a bit of stuff I need to do during the break in relations to school, but I wanted to use quite a bit of my off time to do a bit of reading on the side. Currently i'm reading books on various subjects, from psychology (the profession I almost went for) to simple, soclial interactions, to plain 'ol fun books. During this time, I thought to myself; hey, if you're gonna go down that route, why not read up on subjects that might greatly benefit you in life?
I realized at that time that I know next to nothing about politics, and am damn sure I know nothing about law in general! Neither subject will ever become a profession I intend to pursue, but wouldn't it be great to be in-the-know about both of these subjects?
Are there any beginner law books I can read that would (even remotely) give me a decent understanding of Law and how the system works? As for politics, is there a book out there that will give me an understanding of how things work instead of a biased left or right-wing arguement? The latter might be a tad bit more important to me, because the issue is going to come up more, but even a loose understanding of the judicial system would probably help me out of a bind something fierce.
I'd also like to point out that i'm not an expert reader; more of in-between a beginner and intermediate level at this point. I realize that some subjects are impossible to decipher without the proper lexicon, but without said word selection you'd never be able to experience the same epiphanies that could take you by surprise, so i'll do my best to be flexible.
TL : DR - Recommend me books on Law and/or Politics for dummies!
Now granted, I already have quite a bit of stuff I need to do during the break in relations to school, but I wanted to use quite a bit of my off time to do a bit of reading on the side. Currently i'm reading books on various subjects, from psychology (the profession I almost went for) to simple, soclial interactions, to plain 'ol fun books. During this time, I thought to myself; hey, if you're gonna go down that route, why not read up on subjects that might greatly benefit you in life?
I realized at that time that I know next to nothing about politics, and am damn sure I know nothing about law in general! Neither subject will ever become a profession I intend to pursue, but wouldn't it be great to be in-the-know about both of these subjects?
Are there any beginner law books I can read that would (even remotely) give me a decent understanding of Law and how the system works? As for politics, is there a book out there that will give me an understanding of how things work instead of a biased left or right-wing arguement? The latter might be a tad bit more important to me, because the issue is going to come up more, but even a loose understanding of the judicial system would probably help me out of a bind something fierce.
I'd also like to point out that i'm not an expert reader; more of in-between a beginner and intermediate level at this point. I realize that some subjects are impossible to decipher without the proper lexicon, but without said word selection you'd never be able to experience the same epiphanies that could take you by surprise, so i'll do my best to be flexible.
TL : DR - Recommend me books on Law and/or Politics for dummies!
Godfather on
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POLITICS
I think the best way to learn about politics is just to read the newspaper every day. Like, The New York Times, not The Beaverton Biweekly Tribune (With Classifieds!). If you actually care about how the system works, you can probably just read Wikipedia or an American Politics textbook. Just read about the three branches and you're pretty much set.
LAW
You can read this book in a day and it's one of the best there is. Once you've finished that, if you want to keep going, I'd recommend this.
I am not against to learning how things work in other countries however. Do your best to bring the fucking thunder gentlemen.
i love this book.
Looks like i'm picking up a used copy.
It's a textbook. That's actually pretty cheap for a textbook.
Right now i'm more concerned if it's going to be too overwhelming for me this holiday. I don't mind reading the book, but I only have so much time before I head back, and I still have to practice art, hang out with the family, visit with friends and do other reading on the side before I get back. I probably won't be able to bring this workbook with me to school, both to space and the complete lack of time i'll have to study it.
Maybe something more bite-size? Or maybe it's thick, but is a quick read?
The Nine is a great read as well.
God Sodaro is an awful Amero-centric asshole. His text was my introductory text for comparative politics and I couldn't even sell it at the end of the semester, the bookstore wouldn't take it back. I recommend very strongly against it, as it gets a lot of things wrong (at least in the edition I had).
If you're in Canada, Godfather, there is a lot you can learn about Canadian politics very easily. Read the "Politics" section of the Globe and Mail on their website (its free) www.theglobeandmail.com. Probably the best national coverage you can get in English, although the Toronto Star has some pretty decent coverage as well (thestar.ca) - and the best columnist/commentator in the business: Chantal Hebert. She's great, her blog is awesome if you speak French, and her stuff also appears in Le Devoir. Which is the other paper you should be reading (if you speak French) for an excellent, well-rounded view of Canadian federal politics.
Then you should be watching At Issue which is a political panel which happens every Thursday night on The National with Peter Mansbridge over on the CBC. You can watch it for free starting the morning after at www.cbc.ca/thenational
Finally, there are a few books that I can recommend. "French Kiss" by the aforementioned Chantal Hebert is a good look at the resurgence of the Alberta-Quebec alliance in the 2006 election which brought Harper to power, and there was a book of collected essays and news articles about the constitutional crisis we had last year that was put out just in the summertime.
Oh, one more thing: if you want to know how our federal system works, read How We Govern Ourselves by the late, great Senator Eugene Forsey. You can get the full version of the text online for free from the Senate website.
There you go.