prior probability

That is the title of this new TV series on C-SPAN, my favorite channel on cable television. In summary, this new series features ten great North American books that have provoked thought among leading public intellectuals, that have led to significant public policy changes in the real world, and that are still talked about today. As it happens, I was invited to contribute to the episode on Oliver Wendell Holmes’s classic tome “The Common Law“. (This episode is scheduled to air for the first time on C-SPAN on Monday night, 16 October, at 9 PM EDT; in the meantime, below is a recording of my contribution.)

Taylor Swift is a national treasure! Not only does she merit her own subreddit (r/TaylorSwift); her concert-movie is the best thing I have seen in theatres in a long time!

Dr Luis Martínez-Fernández, author, historian, and Pegasus Professor at the University of Central Florida (UCF’s highest honor), will present an illustrated history of our beloved lost Caribbean isle. The intriguing title of his talk is “Cuba’s History in 25 Artifacts“, and it is scheduled to take place at the main branch of the Orlando Public Library in Downtown Orlando on Saturday, 14 October, at four o’clock in the afternoon. (Details here.) In the meantime, I don’t know whether my colleague and friend will include a vintage Cuban tourism poster in his collection of 25 artifacts, so I am posting a collage of such classic affiches below (photo credit: Al Hurley), just in case!

What is the most beautiful, haunting, and literary law review article of all time? In preparation for my upcoming talk on the life and legacy of Oliver Wendell Holmes (see my previous post), I want to say a few words about Holmes’s classic essay “The Path of the Law”, the first page of which is pictured below. To the point, my thesis is that Holmes’s work should be read as a short story or novella, for it is nothing less than a timeless masterpiece, along with the works of other great writers like Jorge Luis Borges and Ernest Hemingway.

As it happens, I explored Holmes’s seminal essay from a literary perspective in my article “Coase’s Parable“, which was published in a special symposium issue of the Mercer Law Review in May of 2023. (“The Problem of Social Cost” by Ronald H. Coase and Holmes’s “Path of the Law” are two of the most controversial, most cited, and most influential law review articles of all time.) Below the fold is an extended excerpt from my 2023 paper:

Two weeks from today (Friday, 27 October), three of my colleagues — Seema Mohapatra, Michael Morley, and Dan O’Gorman — and I will get together to speak about the life and legacy of the great North American jurist Oliver Wendell Holmes. The student chapter of the American Constitution Society (ACS) will be hosting us at the Dwayne O. Andreas Law School in Orlando, Florida. Details below:

That is the title of this new book about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. As it happens, I already blogged about this new work, which finally hit bookstores earlier this week (see here or below), so I just want to pose two pithy but poignant questions for now:

1. Why did the author, retired Secret Service agent Paul Landis, wait 60 years to tell his story, and 2. Is his story a credible one? (Alas, I hate to be that guy, but Mr Landis was one of several Secret Service agents who stayed up late, partying and drinking in Fort Worth until the wee hours of the morning, just a few hours before the Kennedy assassination. See here and here, for example.)

Happy 21st Birthday, Kleber!