Year In Review, 2025.
Books Read (in order read)
1. Fat, Drunk, and Stupid: The Inside Story Behind The Making of Animal House by Matty Simmons (2012)
4. Black Pill: My Strange Journey Into The Darkest Corners of the Internet by Elle Reeve (2024)
5. American Lightening by Howard Blum (2009) [cd unabridged]
6. A Very Punchable Face: A Memoir by Colin Jost (2020) [audiobook unabridged]
7. The End of Race Politics: Arguments for a Colorblind America by Coleman Hughes (2024)
8. The Devil At His Elbow: Alex Murdaugh and the Fall of a Southern Dynasty by Valerie Bauerlein (2024)
9. Cult City: Jim Jones, Harvey Milk, and 10 Days That Shook San Francisco (2018)
10. The Art Thief by Michael Finkel (2023)
11. Same as Ever: A Guide to What Never Changes by Morgan Housel (2023)
12. The Comfort Crisis by Michael Easter (2021) [audiobook unabridged]
13. In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette by Hampton Sides (2015) [cd unabridged] [second time]
14. The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates by Wes Moore (2010)
15. The Wide Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook by Hampton Sides (2024) [cd unabridged]
16. Big Dumb Eyes by Nate Bargatze (2025)
17. Uncharted: How Trump Beat Biden, Harris, and the Odds in the Wildest Campaign in History by Chris Whipple (2025) [cd unabridged]
18. Dreamland: The True Tale of America's Opiate Epidemic by Sam Quinones (2016, with afterword)
19. Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson (2025) [audiobook unabridged]
20. The Pleasure of Finding Things Out: The Best Short Works of Richard P. Feynman (1999) [cd unabridged]
21. James Patterson by James Patterson (The Stories of My Life) (2022) [cd unabridged]
22. Priceless: How I Went Undercover to Rescue the World's Stolen Treasures with John Schiffman by Robert K. Wittman (2010)
23. The Strange Death of Europe by Douglas Murray (2017, with Afterword, 2018)
24. A Runner's High by Dean Karnazes (2021)
25. Like a Rolling Stone by Jann Wenner (2022) [cd unabridged]
26. Punk Paradox by Greg Graffin (2022)
27. The Road Headed West: A 6000-Mile Cycling Odyssey Through North America by Leon McCarron (2014)
28. The Murder Book of Murder by Matt Murphy: A Prosecutor's Journey Through Love and Death (2024)
29. The Proving Ground (A Lincoln Lawyer Novel) by Michael Connelly (2025)*
30. Fight: Inside the Wildest Battle for the White House by Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes (2025)
31. The Hampton's Lawyer by James Patterson and Mike Lupica (2025) [cd unabridged]
32. The Waiting by Michael Connelly (2024) [cd unabridged]
33. Nobody's Girl by Virginia Roberts Guiffre (2025)
34. Listening to the Law: Reflections on the Court and Constitution by Amy Coney Barrett (2025) [audiobook unabridged]
35. Tramp Across The Continent by Charles Fletcher Lummis (1892)
36. "Abe" Lincoln's Yarns and Stories by Alexander K. McClure (1901)
Book of the Year
Nonfiction: The Art Thief by Michael Finkel (2023). Amazing true story written like a novel. (A good companion to this is Priceless: How I Went Undercover to Rescue the World's Stolen Treasures with John Schiffman by Robert K. Wittman (2010).)
Honorable Mentions: The Comfort Crisis by Michael Easter (2021); Punk Paradox by Greg Graffin (2022); and The Murder Book of Murder by Matt Murphy: A Prosecutor's Journey Through Love and Death (2024)
Fiction: The Proving Ground (A Lincoln Lawyer Novel) by Michael Connelly (2025). The master of the genre working at the top of his craft with a timely plotline.
Album of the Year
Bright as Blasphemy by Chevelle. They still got it.
Concert of the Year
A Perfect Circle; Primus; Pusifer (April 24, 2025)
Appeal of the Year
The appellate court affirmed by a 3-0 vote an order sustaining a demurrer to a probate petition without leave to amend on the grounds of laches. While I didn't handle the trial court matter, I argued successfully that the court of appeal should affirm. Moreover, I effectively obtained a reversal of the trial court, which denied on the alternative grounds of the statute of limitations. In other words, the appellate court upheld the ruling on the merits of both grounds. In preparation for the argument, I researched opinions issued by this exact panel and noticed that one was prolific about the presumption of correctness and failure to obtain a proper record. So in the argument, I read her words back to her (and by extension the other panelists) when I talked about these requirements being "constitutional ingredients". And despite one justice asking my opponent some telling questions about the lack of the record and facts supporting the doctrine of laches, it turned that out a third justice (who was by far the most experienced of the panel) lowered the boom on my opponent by authoring the opinion. She used "doubled down" which I thought about and instead used "Continued with the errors of the Opening Brief" because I thought it was a bit caustic. And that was the kind part. The opinion went on to say, that the other side continued to "defend the indefensible". That's going to leave a mark.
Losses Sustained
John MacArthur
Charlie Kirk
Charlie said earlier this year that John was the best Bible teacher alive, and then both improbably died the same year.
Athletic Achievement of the Year
Marathon a week (comprised of runs and hikes). Actual: 27.36 miles per week for 52 weeks.
266 5ks or longer
365/365 workouts (11th year in a row)
Fulfilled annual trek to Sedona and international travel.
posted by nblaw @ 11:51 AM
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