Pre-Law School Reading

I've heard a lot advice on what you should (and shouldn't) do in your pre-1L summer. I've already decided my top priority is going to be to get settled in Minneapolis, and then to explore the city and relax before I'm sucked into the law school void. But I'm also inclined to do some law-related reading beforehand, not in the sense of trying to actually learn the law or memorize anything, but just get myself more acquainted with some other law-related stuff. My dad's recommendations are On the Nature of the Judicial Process by Benjamin Cardozo and The Bramble Bush by Karl Llewellyn, which are the things he read before going to law school. So I'll start with those and hope they're enticing enough to stick with.

I also have a couple of books that fall into the Overly-Thorough-Handbook-for-Neurotic-0Ls genre, Law School Confidential and 1L Of A Ride: A Well-Traveled Professor's Roadmap to Success in the First Year of Law School.  I had Planet Law School as some point too, but I guess I didn't think too much of it since it was tossed. I've skimmed both of these, but I don't remember much about either of them. I'll probably take the time to revisit both of those once it starts getting closer to September and my law school-related neuroses kick into full gear.

I visited BU back in March for an accepted students day thing, and one of the professors suggested his own book, The Legal Analyst: A Toolkit for Thinking About the Law. I downloaded a copy and am currently about 2/3rds through it now, and it's proving to be interesting (and dense) reading. It's not about specific laws, but what sort of considerations and thought processes are behind certain types of laws and policies. I have no idea how helpful this might be in law school, but I'm enjoying it enough to where it doesn't matter. (Also, it taught me about a type of social dilemma sort of thing I hadn't heard discussed before, the stag hunt. It's worth looking into if you're interested in implications of the prisoner's dilemma and game theory.)

Another book that's high on the to-read list is Flagrant Conduct: The Story of Lawrence v. Texas by Dale Carpenter. First of all, this is supposed to be really good. It's also written by a UMN professor and is about an important case that took place in the homeland, so I really have no excuse not to read it.

Outside of those things, I kind of want to revisit some of my favorite books I haven't picked up in a while. I've been saving some of David Foster Wallace's stuff to read, and I definitely need to work some Gaiman in. And then I have a sort of tradition of taking on an enormous novel for summer reading; previous years have been Infinite Jest, 2666, and The Corrections. Maybe I should break with the pomo trend and go for something different. Hmm.

Yep, that's my summer reading plan. And like every summer reading plan I've made, I'll probably get to about two of the books I mentioned.