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Category: Books

WISDOM FROM NURSERY STORIES AND FABLES

WISDOM FROM NURSERY STORIES AND FABLES

There can be a lot of wisdom in stories created for children and in the  form of fables passed from one generation to another. Here are just a few examples I believe represent learning experiences for us all The Velveteen Rabbit is a children's book written by Margery Williams and illustrated by William Nicholson. It chronicles the story of a stuffed rabbit's desire to become real through the love of his owner. It was originally published in 1922. This selection from…

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MY BOOK REPORT FROM GIG HARBOR

MY BOOK REPORT FROM GIG HARBOR

Humorist Garrison Keillor says on his popular radio show, Prairie Home Companion, “Well, that’s the news from Lake Wobegon, where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average.” Well, this is the report from Gig Harbor, with extracts from some books I read that have no particular purpose then they caught my interest.  The U.S. Constitution: And Fascinating Facts About It by Terry L. Jordan A huge man for his day,…

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AN ITALIAN IMMIGRANT’S JOURNEY

AN ITALIAN IMMIGRANT’S JOURNEY

That's the title of a book written by my father Paul Luvera Sr and edited by my sister Phyllis Luvera Ennes. It has just been privately printed for our large family and it is an interesting story of an immigrant family's success in America. I just published in this blog, on the anniversary of dad's death, November 4th, a  short outline of his life. It's the story of a young boy who traveled with his mother and sister from Italy…

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CLARENCE DARROW’S LETTERS

CLARENCE DARROW’S LETTERS

I have just finished reading a lengthy book In the Clutches of the Law edited by Randall Tietjen.  I suspect that no court room lawyer has achieved more notoriety then Clarence  Darrow (1857 – 1938) his many famous cases included the Scopes trial where he defended a schoolteacher charged with the crime of teaching evolution and the Leopold and Loeb case where he argued against the death penalty for two young men who had brutally murdered a young boy. He…

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BOOK “THE BOYS IN THE BOAT”

BOOK “THE BOYS IN THE BOAT”

This is a compelling story by Daniel James Brown not only because of the excellent story telling but because it involves the University of Washington crew that went to Berlin and won the eight oar crew Olympics race of 1936. For me, it also had a personal connection in the stroke on the boat was Don Hume who graduated from my high school in Anacortes. All of the members of this crew were from Washington. Places like Anacortes, Squim, Lynden and other places…

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BILL BRYSON’S BOOK ONE SUMMER IN AMERICA

BILL BRYSON’S BOOK ONE SUMMER IN AMERICA

I'm reading Bill Bryson's book One Summer in America about events in 1920's. I was reminded of the fact that France had seized Germany's industrial center for failure of the German's to keep up with their reparation payments dictated by the truce that ended World War I. The result was inflation out of control. The German Mark had traded at 4 to the dollar before the war and now shot up to 600,000 to the dollar. Prices began to double…

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FRANK LANGELLA’S BOOK & ROSA PARKS

FRANK LANGELLA’S BOOK & ROSA PARKS

I finished a book: Dropped names: Famous men and women as I knew them by the actor Frank Langella. Here are a few excerpts I thought worth repeating. Bette Davis was asked what it takes to succeed in the acting profession. She always answered "the courage to be hated." I've often said that a lawyer, especially a trial lawyer, is very unlikely to be a great lawyer if they are worried about being liked and put that as a priority….

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PURSE SEINE FISHING a book by Gary Keister

PURSE SEINE FISHING a book by Gary Keister

Fishing on the salmon purse seine boats was an enormous part of my life experince which benefited me the most. The lessons learned, the relationship to men, most of whom were much older and poor at English and being involved in a clean life on the sea will always be a huge part of who I am. I've written about this more then once. I referred to Brent Lunsford wonderful book about te Croation fishing families, including my own, of…

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BOOKS: The Elephant to Hollywood & The Drunkard’s Walk

BOOKS: The Elephant to Hollywood & The Drunkard’s Walk

I just finished Michael Caine’s latest book The Elephant to Hollywood recently and thought I'd share a couple of passages. The first deals with acting. The advice is directly applicable to trial lawyers like me. Too many lawyers "act like" someone instead of being totally authentic and genuine, but then, so do a lot of other people. Here's what he wrote. As a young actor in rehearsal he was playing the role of a drunk. He says he came "rolling onto…

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MARLO THOMAS’S BOOK & SOME LAME JOKES

MARLO THOMAS’S BOOK & SOME LAME JOKES

We just flew to New Orleans where I gave a talk to the New Orleans trial lawyers. I had enough time  traveling to read a couple of books. One of them was by Marlo Thomas Growing up Laughing which is a delightful book about her father Danny Thomas and others involved in comedy. I realize these are corny jokes, but I laughed at them anyway when I read them in the book I just got back from a pleasure trip. I…

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