Book Reviews

Making Waves and Riding the Currents

by Charles Halpern
Berrett-Koehler, 2008

$24.95 , 290 pages

Charlie Halpern is a true hero of the law. Out of Yale law school, he clerked for a federal appeals court judge, worked at a big Washington firm, cofounded the first public-interest law firm (the Center for Law and Social Policy), started and led the first public-interest-focused law school (at New York University), and served as president of the Nathan Cummings Foundation. This is his memoir, and it is very personal and heartfelt.

But it's more than a lawyer's memoir; it is also a meditation on what he calls the practice of wisdom, in which meditation plays a major role, his thesis being, very roughly, that one needs to be grounded within oneself in order to live a full and fulfilling lfe. The book, in other words, is difficult to characterize, but that doesn't make it any the less fascinating. Find out more at charliehalpern.com. —Tom Turner

Purchase Making Waves and Riding the Currents here

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