Last Updated on October 25, 2021
Resident Lon Chestnutt’s review of Mine: How the Hidden Rules of Ownership Control Our Lives by Michael Heller and James Salzman [New York: Doubleday, 2021], is scheduled for Tuesday, November 16, 2021 at 7 PM in the Auditorium.
WHO HAS THE REMOTE?
Almost everyone knows that this question is about who controls the television and who is deciding which programs to watch. The book is on this topic—possession. Authors Michael Heller and James Salzman combine almost fifty years teaching experience in Real Estate Law as they explore the meaning of ownership.
Mine: How the Hidden Rules of Ownership Control Our lives ( New York: Doubleday, 2021) is filled with real examples, such as who gets the armrest on the plane or what happens when an angry homeowner shoots down an $1800 drone as it flies across his property? The authors carefully examine the implications of six different methods that people have used through the ages to determine the real owners of land, animals, ideas, and even unknown resources.
The authors are tackling a gigantic question in this book. They frame it in such a way that there’s not just one answer to the question, “By what criteria do you own this?”
But what, you ask, are we talking about?—Some food on the table before us? Or an object that I’m holding? Or an animal to which I’m attached? Or some money that I think belongs to me? Or even some other implications like:
An idea I thought of and explored on paper?
Or a floundering organization I joined and turned into a prosperous business?
Or an oppressive government that I opposed and built a coalition which overthrew it?
Heller and Salzman have taken the concept of ‘ownership’ and turned it every way possible in a wringer to come up with this fascinating expose’ on what we think we know about possessionship and how our answers are affecting the way we live our lives.
Can they answer their own question: “What is Ownership?”
Michael A. Heller, Professor of Real Estate Law at Columbia Law School, concentrates on Property Law.
James Salzman, Professor of Environmental Law at University of California, Santa Barbara, also teaches Real Estate Law.
The reviewer will be Lon Chesnutt in his eleventh turn at the Book Review microphone. A long-time retired United Methodist clergy and ELLIC instructor, he has explored history, fiction, science, and drama. This time the selection will touch all those themes.
Janet Neer and Ellyn Loy, Book Review Coordinators