Books -- How to Argue and Win Every Time ... at Home, at Work, in Court, Everywhere, Everyday by Gerry Spence

Gerry Spence. How to Argue and Win Every Time...at Home, at Work, in Court, Everywhere, Everyday. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1995.

Gerry Spence's newest book brims with tales about how "truth will out" in the courtroom, bedroom, schoolroom, factory, and office. According to Larry King, on whose TV programs Spence appears and whose quote appears on the book's jacket, "How to Argue and Win Every Time is more than just a book about argument; it's the outline on how to live."

Spence believes that humans are "hard wired" not only to learn their mother tongue but also to use language primarily to tell stories. The author considers it his "play" to marshal facts, index and date them, put a human face on them, and present them--to judges, juries, prosecutors, loved ones, children, and peers. He does this with an honest, sincere, and "naked passion," visualizing, in a parable, a judge who orders everyone in the courtroom to take off their clothes because "I'm [the judge] sick up to here with all the cover-ups and snow jobs I get from fancy Brooks Brothers pin-striped suits. Lawyers who present their cases naked are more likely to tell the truth."

Naked, honest (in a childlike sense) and truthful analogies, aphorisms, metaphors, and fables are sprinkled throughout this book to illustrate how the author makes people see, feel, understand, and care...and make judgments in his clients' favor.

The philosopher Montaigne claimed that "...to understand everything is to forgive everything." Spence comes close to paraphrasing Montaigne in that he tries, on behalf of his clients,...