Author Description

The title of this book is an homage to The Paper Chase, the 1970 novel by John Jay Osborn, Jr. It was later adapted into a move and television series of the same name. John Houseman won an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and other awards in his portrayal of the irascible Professor Charles Kingsfield, a professor of contract law at Harvard University. The Paper Chase portrays James T. Hart, an anxious first year law school student from the Midwest who along with other brilliant students is determined to chase paper-- a grade and all that it means for his sense of worth and his future. But the process of learning how to think like a lawyer, the movie suggests, is largely a process of subtraction. As Susan Fields, Kingsfield's daughter and Hart's girlfriend, says: "They finally got you, Hart, they sucked all that Midwestern charm right out of you. Look, he's got you scared to death. You're going to pass, because you're the kind the law school wants. You'll get your little diploma. Your piece of paper that's no different that this (toilet paper roll) and you can stick it in your silver box with all the other paper in your life. Your birth certificate, driver's license, marriage license, your stock certificates, and your will. I wish you would flunk. There might be some hope for you." I'll show you how to get an A in bio-chem. But then I'll ask the daring question: Does it matter if you get an A or an F in bio-chem? Just as success has its own risks, so too does failure have its own rewards. The paper chase and the money chase sometimes isn't worth their real costs. This book shows how to navigate between the twin perils of success and failure in school and beyond. The paper that we chase, such as references, degrees, and certifications, are meaningful in how they can open doors for us and meaningless in how they define us as humans and as citizens. This is a how to book-- how to get good grades, how to build wealth, and how to be healthy. But it's also a book on ho