What Simple Explanations Feel Like. (We Also Have A New Addition...)
This week we talk about Richard Feynman's simple explanations (and its uses); how to write better; discuss what's happening at the LLS Book Club; and, a new addition to the Magazine.
Do Trees Grow Out of Air? - Richard Feynman On Simple Explanations of Complex Things
Did you know (in a way) the stored sun comes out when you burn wood? That trees grow out of air more than out of the ground?
Won't it be amazing if someone could explain the entire process with such clarity that you could explain it to someone right after?
Thankfully there are like Dr. Richard Feynman, a Noble Prize-winning physicist and prolific writer, capable of doing that.
In 1983, the BBC did a 'Fun to Imagine' series with Dr. Feynman, where he explains simple things like why rubber band is stretchy, why tennis balls don't bounce forever. There are multiple places that have covered his method of teaching. His humour and clarity of thought, coupled with child-like curiosity, have led him to be called 'The Great Explainer'.
Read his explanation here.
Professor Nigam Nuggehalli on Good Writing
A while ago, I had written that the key to good written communication is to be clear, precise, and accurate. I had written that no other profession emphasizes good writing to the same extent as the legal profession. I had also made the point, without expanding it further, that the best lawyers are not only clear, precise and accurate, but also possess great moral imagination.
Some students have since then told me that it is all well and good to talk about clarity, accuracy, precision and moral imagination, but without some examples, it’s a bit difficult to appreciate these ideas. They have a point.
Read more here.
Books Corner (Surprise!):
This week onwards we will also be talking about books that have been recently released.
This collection of stories of death-row prisoners in India provides a glimpse of the lives of the people we, as a society, want to kill. It is based on the interviews conducted by Project 39A, a criminal justice research and litigation centre based out of National Law University, Delhi.
Read these nineteen stories to explore a side to the system we often talk about but rarely explore.
The Lawctopus Law School Book Club Has A Discord Server
Things are moving up and notch. We have started our own Discord Server.
Now we have a space for people to discuss whatever they want in a structured way. This Server would help us build a tighter community, and engage more. Lots of things in store.
Come read with us. Join the club here.
Quotes Corner
We live in the midst of the common law; we inhale it at every breath, imbibe it at every pore; we meet with it when we wake and when we lie down to sleep, when we travel and when we stay at home; and it is interwoven with the very idiom that we speak and we cannot learn another system of laws, without at the same time, another language.
Chancellor James Kent (1763–1847)
Write To Us
Send us an email at umang.poddar@lawctopus.com with an idea/pitch you want to write about.
We are looking for interesting stories on law, book reviews, poem/fiction works, law school stories, and short academic pieces.
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