Books by Ward Farnsworth

A thinking person¿s guide to a better life. Ward Farnsworth explains what the Socratic method is, how it works, and why it matters more than ever in our time. Easy to grasp yet challenging to master, the method will change the way you think about life¿s big questions. ¿A wonderful book.¿¿Rebecca Goldstein, author of Plato at the Googleplex. About 2,500 years ago, Plato wrote a set of dialogues that depict Socrates in conversation. The way Socrates asks questions, and the reasons why, amount to a whole way of thinking. This is the Socratic method¿one of humanity¿s great achievements. More than a technique, the method is an ethic of patience, inquiry, humility, and doubt. It is an aid to better thinking, and a remedy for bad habits of mind, whether in law, politics, the classroom, or tackling life¿s big questions at the kitchen table. Drawing on hundreds of quotations, this book explains what the Socratic method is and how to use it. Chapters include Socratic Ethics, Ignorance, Testing Principles, and Socrates and the Stoics. Socratic philosophy is still startling after all these years because it is an approach to asking hard questions and chasing after them. It is a route to wisdom and a way of thinking about wisdom. With Farnsworth as your guide, the ideas of Socrates are easier to understand than ever and accessible to anyone.As Farnsworth achieved with The Practicing Stoic and the Farnsworth¿s Classical English series, ideas of old are made new and vital again. This book is for those coming to philosophy the way Socrates did¿as the everyday activity of making sense out of life and how to live it¿and for anyone who wants to know what he said about doing that better.

Chess tactics explained in English: the second volume of material from www.chesstactics.org. This book is the second in a two-part set. The two books together contain over a thousand examples organized in unprecedented detail. Every position is accompanied by a commentary describing a train of thought that leads to the solution; these books thus are the ideal learning tool for those who prefer explanations in words to long strings of notation. Book II -- the present volume -- covers pins and skewers, removal of the guard, and mating patterns. (The first book in the set provides an introduction to tactics and explains forks and discovered attacks.) Also available in hardcover.

Chess tactics explained in English: the website www.chesstactics.org in book form. This volume is the first in a two-part set. The two books together contain over a thousand examples organized in unprecedented detail. Every position is accompanied by a commentary describing a train of thought that leads to the solution; these books thus are the ideal learning tool for those who prefer explanations in words to long strings of notation. This first volume provides an introduction to tactics and explains forks and discovered attacks. (Book II covers pins and skewers, removal of the guard, and mating patterns.) A hardcover version is also available.

Restitution is the body of law concerned with taking away gains that someone has wrongfully obtained. This book explains restitution doctrines, remedies, and defenses and illustrates them with examples. It demonstrates that the law of restitution is guided by a manageable and coherent set of principles that have remarkable versatility and power.

There are two kinds of knowledge law school teaches: legal rules on the one hand and tools for thinking about legal problems on the other. This work brings together various tools for thinking about law. It is suitable for law students, practitioners seeking a one-stop guide to legal principles, or those with an interest in the law.