Why we read books

I've not been writing reviews recently for a number of reasons, but I keep reading. We're in Week 20 of the year and I've read 19 books. I hope to finish my 20th this week to keep on schedule. But we don't read books to review them, or to meet a quota, but to learn, …

The Billable Hour and the death of the soul

Someone has recently penned an obituary for the billable hour. I'm a lawyer, and I cannot tell you how much I wish it were dead, but I have doubts that it will actually die any time soon. Most law firms are stuck in the outdated mentality that they can only bill in this one way. And it …

The journey of grace

Thomas Merton said in No Man is an Island that "We ought to stop taking our conscious plans and decisions with such infinite seriousness." We all have plans in life, and that is admirable. Goals are important. As some say, though, to make God laugh, tell Him your plans. We need to realize that our ways are …

Zero to One (Peter Thiel)

Many things have been written about Peter Thiel's book, Zero to One, and I thought it was about time I should read it. Thiel is interesting because he and I have so many similarities: we both studied philosophy in college, we both went to law school, we both clerked for a judge, we both worked in …

Loaded: money and the spirituality of enough (Heather King)

  Fair warning: I'm a big Heather King fan. Her book, Redeemed, is a new favorite of mine. And having met Heather at an event, I can attest that she was as gracious and thoughtful as you might imagine from reading her work. That being said, Loaded surprised me. This work appears in the great tradition of …

Work, work, work

I've not had a lot of time to blog lately and will not have time for another week or so. Currently, I'm prepping for oral arguments in the 9th Circuit and grading the substantial papers of the second-year students (think 30 people x 55 pages per person = 1650 pages to read and comment on …