Horace Mann - Summer 2016 - 40

Bookshelf that are fun and illuminating, the author leaves readers feeling exuberant, and convinced that their IQs have been raised. Anecdotes about well-known mathematicians humanize and provide new insights into their lofty subjects. Recalling such classic works as Lewis Carroll's Introduction to Logic and A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper by John Allen Paulos, Mathematical Elegance will energize and delight a wide audience, ranging from intellectually curious students to the enthusiastic general reader. "Ardent devotees of mathematics, as well as readers eager to understand more about today's renewed focus on math, will turn again and again to this deft and accessible explanation of the world of numbers. Along with famous mathematical proofs, there are fascinating insights into the minds and lives of those who discovered them. Puzzle lovers can test their mettle with a collection of stimulating brainteasers that concludes a book that is an informative, delightful, fun read for everyone," wrote City College Prof. Ibtihaj Said Arafat. Jewish Law and Contemporary Issues By Arthur J. Jacobson '65 and J. David Bleich Cambridge University Press, October 2015 Organized as a series of authoritative discussions, this book presents the application of Jewish law-or Halakhah-to contemporary social and political issues. Beginning with the principle of divine revelation, it describes the contents and canons of interpretation of Jewish law. Though divinely received, the law must still be interpreted and "completed" by human minds, often leading to the conundrum of divergent but equally authentic interpretations. Examining topics from divorce to war and from rabbinic confidentiality to cloning, this book carefully delineates the issues presented in each case, showing the various positions taken by rabbinic scholars, clarifying areas of divergence, and analyzing reasons for disagreement. Written by widely-recognized scholars of both Jewish and secular law, this book will be an invaluable source for all who seek authoritative guidance in understanding traditional Jewish law and practice. With each chapter including a section for notes and questions to prompt further discussion and consider hypothetical situations, this book makes Jewish law accessible to a general audience. 40 Horace Mann Magazine Summer 2016 The Creation of the Common Law: The Medieval Year Books Deciphered By Thomas Lund '60 The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd., February 10, 2015 In this modern compilation and commentary Prof. Thomas Lund '60 paraphrases and analyzes important cases in medieval law, making this fascinating litigation accessible to everyone. While Frederick Pollack and Frederick William Maitland's classic History of English Law ends at Henry III's death, until now no one has explained, in clear modern language, the transformative events that followed. After Edward I became king, Chief Justice Bereford took charge of the legal system and created law in accord with his own sense of justice. The book puts his innovations into the context of contemporary American and English law. Prof. Stephen B. Presser of Northwestern University School of Law, put Prof. Lund's work into context by explaining, "It is a staple of popular fiction-The Da Vinci Code is a prominent recent example-for a scholar, after inspired and painstaking work, to reveal hidden mysteries encoded in ancient manuscripts that alter our understanding of ourselves and our civilization. Remarkably, the legal scholar Thomas Lund, has, in real life, done just that. Here, after hundreds of years, is a readable, brilliant, and deep study of the sources of the basic principles of the Anglo-American Legal System still in use today (through) the medieval Year Books until now utterly inaccessible except to a few specialists in the most arcane legal history. This amazing and delightful book will be of profound interest to anyone who has ever believed that the rule of law is about more than the arbitrary machinations of politicians. Simply stated, Thomas Lund has given us one of the most important works on law in this generation." Medievalist Prof. William Chester Jordan of Princeton University called Prof. Lund's work "a stunning achievement." Among the Ten Thousand Things By Julia Pierpont '04 Random House, July 7, 2015 Readers and reviewers have hailed Julia Pierpont's '04 Among the Ten Thousand Things as a dazzling first novel, a portrait of an American family on the cusp of irrevocable change, and a startlingly original story of love and time lost. It's the story of Jack Shanley, a well-known New York artist, charming and vain, who doesn't mean to plunge his family into crisis. His wife, Deb, gladly left behind a difficult career as a dancer to raise the two children she adores. In the ensuing years, she has mostly avoided coming face-to-face with the weaknesses of the man she married. But then an anonymously sent package arrives in the mail: a cardboard box containing sheaves of printed emails chronicling Jack's secret life. The package is addressed to Deb, but it's delivered into the wrong hands: her children's, who can't resist reading the correspondence. Soon the Shanleys spin apart into separate orbits. As they leave New York in an attempt to regain their bearings 15-year-old Simon feels the allure of adult freedoms for the first time, while 11-year-old Kay wanders precariously into a grown-up world she can't possibly understand. Writing with extraordinary precision, humor, and beauty, Julia Pierpont has crafted a timeless, moving, and hugely enjoyable novel about the bonds of family life-their brittleness, and their resilience. Moira Hodgson described the book in The Wall Street Journal as an "excellent, insightful first novel ... Pierpont brings this family of four to life in sharply observed detail.... An acute observer of social comedy, Ms. Pierpont has a keen eye for the absurd." Meredith Turits described the book in Vanity Fair as "A debut so honest and mature that it will resonate with even the most action-hungry readers." And The Huffington Post wrote, "Fans of [Virginia] Woolf's insight into the human consciousness ... will savor Pierpont's acute observation of a family in crisis, her deft pacing and deeply human characterization of each member of the family." Year of the Dunk By Asher Price '97 Crown, May 12, 2015 We all like to think that, with a little practice, we could run faster, learn another language, or whip up a perfect soufflé. But few of us ever put those hopes to the test. In Year of the Dunk Asher Price '97 decides to try to gauge his own hidden potential. The medium he chooses is basketball's slam dunk, a feat with distinctly American themes of culture, race,

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Horace Mann - Summer 2016