This is a good bathroom book. The individual bits are just long enough, the reading light enough for the purpose. The writing, while otherwise fine, is marred by the authors addition of his own views. Had he just reported the facts this would have been a better book. The humor of the stupidity would have stood on its own. The authors comments at the end of many individual entries is jarring as it is out of rhythm with he reporting that preceded it. An editor would have done well to see those comments removed. Still a fun read in the right setting.

Absolutely hilarious true stories of happenings in the court room. A must have for fans of real life humor. ( )

The actual stories were very funny, but I found the the author's editorials grating most of the time. Perry Parks once said that if it's obviously ridiculous news, you just need to lay the information out there, you don't need to point out how ridiculous the people were. ( )

This is an adequate collection of some of the more audacious court cases over the years. It was a very quick and easy read and good for a few chuckles. However as a somewhat frequent reader of Chuck Shepherd's syndicated column News of the Weird I had heard many of the best ones before. Seidemann's occasional comments about some of the cases were very predictable--I had said half of them in my head as I was reading the case in the first place. The book could also have been better if he either had more interesting comments, or completely refrained from making any. ( )

I liked this book, it shows how stupid all people can be (including a few judges). I had already heard about quite a few of the cases both in local news and on news websites. However there is enough new info that I wanted to finish the book. Very quick read, would be easy to pick up and put down many times.

This little book is a fast, easy read. Although very amusing, it's a little scary when you stop to think that these stories are real. Are people really that stupid? Unfortunately, yes. Read this book for entertainment but take a lesson from it and try not to end up in the next collection of tales!

This was a very fast read, even for me. I finished it in about an a hour and I found it incredibly enjoyable. (The section about judges was just a little depressing because you know, these are the people that actually work for the justice system.) It's a relief to know that some criminals are just as stupid as you'd hope, so at least some people get caught. A very good read and I reccommend. ( )

I really wanted to like "Guilty by Reason of Stupidity." I enjoy a laugh at the expense of our high and mighty legal system, and of the people who do spectacularly foolish things to land there, as much as anyone else. Unfortunately, I was so offended by the seventh of the many, very short stories that I had to put the book down for a few weeks before I could finish it. Joel J. Seidemann does present quite a few of the amusing stories I expected. However, rather than enhancing the humor, his sarcastic, scathing criticism drowns it out in too many of the anecdotes. This effect is further exacerbated by the mediocre writing, so that at times I had to puzzle over the story to find the humor. Most troubling for me, though, is the patent lack of concern for the human rights of convicts, particularly those convicted of more heinous crimes. I'm no fan of rape or murder, but am very much a fan of the laws that exist to protect all of our rights, including those of convicts. Hearing such scorn for judges attempting to protect those rights (even if those attempts are ultimately misguided) troubles me coming from an individual who actively practices law. ( )

Seidemann may have been a lawyer for twenty-five years, but that is no bad thing if it leads to books such as Guilty by Reason of Stupidity. Many of the cases he has chronicled within its pages have made news headlines (even here in Canada), but even the ones that haven’t deserve to be boggled at by those of us who find such goings-on to be completely ridiculous.

None of the cases necessarily make much sense, no matter what perspective one comes at them from, but they’re all worth a chuckle or two, and make for interesting discussions at the company water cooler. Assuming, of course, that one’s boss or co-workers haven’t been implicated in similar situations!

Clearly, his day job hasn’t impeded Seidemann’s writing ability, as all the cases he writes about are summarized concisely and with appropriate amounts of sometimes obvious, sometimes understated humour. As there is no doubt that less-than-brilliant judges, defendants, plaintiffs, and counsel will continue to use, or abuse, their talents, more books from Seidemann along the lines of this effort would be most welcomed.

All I can say is that this book is complete and utter rubbish. The purpose of the book, apparently, is to show how silly and "funny" the law can sometimes be. The author is a prosecutor and certainly lets his biases show. Most of the stories he shares are really not all that funny in and of themselves - he seems to find them "funny" because they seem to disagree with the way he thought they should have played out. You can read better stories and ones that really make you laugh at human stupidity in the Darwin Awards. I really wouldn't waste my time buying or reading this book. It is poorly written, is certainly not funny and adds absolutely nothing to human knowledge. ( )

I enjoyed reading these short description of stupid criminals and stupid court cases. The only thing I was disappointed with was they were not all original. At least 25% were repeats from Darwin Awards or the Ig Nobel Prizes and other books of that nature. The original material was very good.

I liked it, especially as a present for the person who is “hard to buy for” or the favorite lawyer in your life. In my job and often even for pleasure, I read deep books that require reflection between chapters. This paperback book is a break from the routine and is a compilation of numerous, all true, stories of the legal system gone a bit off track either from actions of the criminals themselves or the lawyers and judges who sometimes get involved themselves in the process. Many of the stories will be familiar to readers worldwide (like the finger found in the fast food chili) and others are likely to be well known in local circles. (I was amazed at how many I knew a bit about.) As you read the book, you will likely be sharing the stories with others nearby, “hey, here is a story about an unshaven guy dressed in drag to disguise himself in a robbery.” Buy this book for yourself when you need to kill some time and don’t want to get involved in a long involved story. Or give it as a gift to a friend and ask to borrow it when finished. Don’t buy the book if you want a novel to curl up with or if you want to gain great insight into the world around us. However, it provides material for the light conversation with peers over lunch. ( )

Eh. I wasn't too enamored with this particular book. It was truly nothing more than a compilation of silly/ridiculous court cases and lawsuits. I felt like the author's writing didn't add anything, and his comments often either confused the issue or were too informal. The cases themselves ridiculous, and Seidemann did a good job of choosing them.

It simply wasn't what I was expecting. I guess I expected more of a dialogue about our broken law system; what I received was just a bunch of stories together. If you're into that, it's great. If you're looking for more of a commentary, this isn't it. ( )

This was certainly easy reading. The book is written to read quickly, with minimal courtroom lingo (which is good since I don't know any). People can be idiots and this book highlights some of the biggest idiots around. I had heard of some of the cases before, but I have never read reports of cases, so any details the book divulged were new to me and fun to read. It is a humorous book, good for a light read. Many of the stories make amusing anecdotes to share with others. ( )

This book falls into the category I would call 'airplane reading'. It is done in a vignette format and the 'stories' read quickly. Yes, as with the Darwin awards, it confirms my sometimes stated opinion that some people should not be allowed to reproduce and some peoples' parents should not have been allowed to reproduce. A clever book, good light reading, makes one despair for the future of the race, but so do many other things. I took it on vacation and read it in the evenings. Some might call it beach reading. ( )

A blisteringly fast book to read, this is a collection of stories of, well, stupid plaintiffs and even stupider defendants. Each story is only a page or two, so this is a perfect book for the bathroom, for those so inclined. For the rest of us, it can be read in one sitting with ease. What is the ultimate message of this book? People are idiots? It's fun to watch the misfortune of others? I'm not sure. It was not a bad book, just a very, very light book, offering no real insights other than that "people do stupid things". ( )

Humorous, with a little smart aleck added. A bit like reading a Reader's Digest condensed version of some of their more famous humor features. You can read a little or a lot at one time. My biggest complaint was that the majority of cases were already well publicized and that they were almost verbatim from other published reports. The author's actual commentary was scarce. I do believe if he had focused on the more unknown cases and brought a bit more depth to those that this could have been a fascinating look at the legal system. ( )

Some of the stories in this book are pretty laughable, especially knowing that they are true. However, all in all it's really very similar to all the other "stupid criminal" books out there. There isn't really much to distingush it, to make it stand out from the others that I've read. ( )

Overall, “Guilty…” is a hard book to categorize. There are several satisfying accounts of criminals who do themselves in by being stupid, such as the crooks whose baggy pants fall down as they attempt to escape.

But there are also upsetting cases that involve injustice or bodily injury. For example, there’s the pedestrian that was stuck by a car while crossing the street. He was fined for jaywalking. And the fight that broke out at a baby shower that resulted in the pregnant woman getting struck with a large stick and another getting shot in the stomach.

I was most concerned about the account of the parents with the adopted special needs children (autism, fetal alcohol syndrome, pica, HIV). The parents were arrested for child endangerment and then sentenced to two years imprisonment. Why? Because they used restraints at night to keep the children from wandering the house and injuring themselves – restraints that their social worker approved of. I can’t stop wondering what the author’s intent was. Although I would view this as an example of injustice (the parents should have been acquitted and awarded respite care), my feeling is that the author was trying to showcase bad parenting.

If you like to read about stupidity in order to laugh, you might be better off with the Darwin Awards series of books. But if you’re interested in the legal system and enjoy learning about the full extent of the human condition, this book might entertain you. ( )

If you're a fan of 'dumb crook news' or 'the Darwin Awards', then you'll definitely want to add "Guilty by Reason of Stupidity" by Joel J. Seidemann to your reading list. Seidemann is a DA who put together this collection of funny, strange, and downright weird legal suits, judgements, and outright shenanigans!

From the infamous Wendy's chili finger to cases involving what I would term deviant acts with livestock, they're all here and commented on with acerbic wit and a keen eye for the ridiculous. At just under 200 pages, "Guilty by Reason of Stupidity" is a very quick overall read, but the stories are separated and sized so you can easily read just a few a day to keep that smile on your face. The size is perfect for sneaking into your (or your boss', if he has a sense of humor) briefcase or purse so you can share the hilarity with your fellow workers. I hope Joel J. Seidemann can be persuaded to search his archives and provide some more legalistic humor--if for no other purpose than to hopefully fend off more lawsuits like the ones he profiles in "Guilty by Reason of Stupidity"! ( )

Guilty by Reason of Stupidity by Joel Seidemann is one of those books that you can pick up and read a few anecdotes when you have only a moment or you can sit and read from cover to cover in one sitting. Yet no matter how you read it, when you put it down, you walk away with a smile on your face and a shake of your head just not believing that people can really be as dumb as they are in the stories. To copy a quote from Tru TV – “you just can’t make these things up.” The best part is stupidity doesn’t seem to know any boundaries. It doesn’t seem to matter which side of the law you are on, whether you a judge or a criminal. You can be a man or a woman, of any race or nationality or from any country.

I would recommend this book to anyone with a little or a lot of time who just likes to have a little chuckle or a big laugh once in a while and, hopefully, you won’t see yourself in the book! ( )

Very entertaining. Makes one cringe with embarrassment for all the stupid things people do. And it's not just the criminals! With judges and attorneys like some of these (who, hopefully, are few and far between), it's a wonder the legal system manages to dispense justice at all! ( )

Have you ever said outloud, "Can anyone be THAT stupid?" If you read this book, you will soon find that yes, people can be that stupid.

Guilty by Reasons of Stupidity is a fun read full of quirky, strange, and just plain odd cases brought to court. The cases are short and readable without having to go deep into legal jargon or history of the case. This book is very funny and will sure to make you giggle.

Honestly, this book reminded me of something one might keep in the bathroom... ( )

A good collection of cases of stupidity on the part of judges, lawyers, defendents, jurors, the law, and civil suits, marred somewhat by the author's occasional hop onto a soapbox. Some people can be angry and funny at the same time, but Joel Seidemann is not one of them. ( )

Incredibly funny!

An easy, quick read. Each case is only 1-3 pages long so easy to pick up and put down. Some points are skewed or glossed over for comedic effect...but, hey, this isn't law review.

A lot of fun to read...and truth truly is stranger then fiction! ( )