Most Read This Week In Legal

[close] To build “the biggest thing, ever!” – LiftPort’s Space Elevator – requires an enormous breadth and depth of knowledge. Naturally, there are technical challenges. These problems of physics, chemistry and orbital dynamics are the ‘sexy’ issues that get all the media attention. But there are additional questions – law, international policy, military implications, theology, finance, operational management, education, human resources, risk mitigation/insurance and more… These concerns cannot be solved with a calculator or a spreadsheet. These are problems which involve people; which mean they are problems not of facts, but of emotions. There are plenty of technical questions that our specialists are working on, but we’ve created this book club to prioritize on the ‘human’ aspect of building the Lunar Space Elevator Infrastructure. This book club is developed as a way of organizing topics to focus on. I have segmented the problems into “Challenges” (below). This book club will tackle books in all of these topics (posted in a Folder). The goal is to both educate myself / my team and of vital importance – to educate our fans / general population. We will read a variety of books (two per month) that will impact the development of Elevators on the Moon, and eventually on Mars and the Terrestrial Space Elevator here on the Earth! I invite you to join and participate in our discussions. Your intelligence, input, advice and wisdom are valued! Thanks for your interest and participation. Michael Laine www.twitter.com/mlaine President, LiftPort Group www.liftport.com

[close] Love animals? This is the place for you! We read and discuss animal-themed books, talk to authors and experts, hold giveaways! In ALDF's Animal Book Club you get the scoop on the latest books, revisit classics, and join in the conversation! Discussion is encouraged! Everyone can comment, ask our experts questions, and participate in contests. Please add books, suggest books, add threads and participate as much as you can! Read the original reviews and interviews at: http://aldf.org/bookclub hosted by Dr. Jennifer Molidor Books will be chosen that speak to issues the Animal Legal Defense Fund faces in its fight to protect the lives and advance the interests of animals.

[close] Looking for the best legal thrillers? John Grisham, yes, and?..... Help me to build this group

[close] Hi guys, Would you like to be part of a literary experiment? I wrote an experimental novel. It's a psychological legal suspense with some romance. I developed a narration technique that you have never seen before. I tried to look for a literary agent in the US, but the answer was the same from all those I had contacted: publishers make business rather than artistic or creative decisions. They see my narration technique as experimental, and therefore not a sure thing for sales. Agents and publishers are only interested in books that are easy to sell and won't spend time reading a book that dares to try something new. This means the audience won't have a chance to judge this original style for themselves unless I self-publish. I am tempted to do so because I would love to submit this novel to the readers and find out whether my technique works or not. But I also know that, once I start down the path of self-publishing, it makes it even more unlikely that I will find an agent willing to consider it. So, this is my plan. If this experiment is able to pique the interest of at least 2000 Goodreads users, I will offer a special launch on Amazon so you will be able to download the book for free. If you believe that writing is about more than just bottom lines, you can show your support for my initiative simply by joining this group and downloading the book when I set up the freebie. That's all the group members will be asked to do. I worked for 3 years of my life on this project and I'm happy to give it for free because, at this point, I would like to prove that basing decisions on marketing and sales isn't necessarily the best strategy. I would rather hear from readers whether they like it or not. But if this technique is not interesting, well, it will mean that agents and publishers are right. Thank you in advance to those who decide to join this group.