Because the author is trying to do two things at once -- share his own experiences and provide universal advice -- I think he overstates how widespread his experiences are. He's really skeptical of professors writing recommendation letters in time for deadlines, and I'm not sure that's a universal problem. He recommends Kaplan test prep because it worked for him. He talks about studying at a level he never had to before. He talks about his summer law firm treating him impersonally. He talks about the frustrations with course registration and with who Cornell gaves tenure too. All things that may not apply to everyone, everywhere.

No question, there are also some great parts of the book -- a crisp, clear description of gunners, of the Socratic method and its plusses and minuses, of how to judge a summer experience, of what's involved in Law Review, of how worried people get about the bar exam. And some of his stories are interesting -- about cheating on exams, about dating at law school, parts of his description of journal elections.

If you're going to Cornell, I'd say this is probably a must-read. You'll get a lot out of it. If you're not going to Cornell, I'd say there's nothing wrong with this book -- it's certainly comprehensive, it's not a bad read, it's got some advice... although, I honestly liked Law School Confidential better. Because it incorporated lots of people's experiences, it didn't get bogged down in the idiosyncracies of one person's life, and I also thought its advice was clearer, better, and more universal. If you're reading law school weblogs, you're probably going to read both of the books anyway, regardless of what I say.

Take his experiences for what they are -- I don't think they're as universal as he paints them. And don't let the book scare you into not doing as many activities as you think you'd like to, and as you think will make you happy. And get more than 4-5 hours of sleep a night, Really.

Okay -- how you can get my extra copy. I want to make this fair and not just give it to someone I know -- because I can just let them borrow the copy I get to keep if I know them. So I'll give this until end of day Monday so as not to disadvantage people who only surf the web during the week. Send me an e-mail telling me you want the book. If anyone has a reason that's really super-compelling, I'll give them the book. If not, I'll put all the names into a hat and pick one. You pay nothing -- I'll spring for shipping, whatever it is.

Hope this was useful.