Ocean and Coastal Law, Cases and Materials, 4th (American Casebook Series)

I am in my last year of law school, and hands down this is the worst case book I've encountered. The case facts are edited to the point it is almost impossible to figure out what is going on, so then when you get to the holding and rule application it doesn't make sense. With just a few more sentences in the background, it would save the time I spend having to go to WestLaw to get the framework needed. Or, I wait until class, pray I'm not called on, and wait for my prof to set it up. So far this semester I've heard my professor say, "the edits make this one hard to understand, let me help explain what's going on here" too many times to count.The second complaint I have is that because the facts are edited to the point of almost incomprehensibility, the editors have left out critical defined terms. Suddenly pages in the opinion will refer to the Authority, or the Regulations, or Whatever, and I'll search the pages preceding to figure out what they are talking about, but then, again, have to go to WestLaw to figure it out because it was defined in a section edited out.Third, Ocean and Coastal Law has a number of authorities at play: international, national, state, and local municipalities. Oftentimes the edits make it hard to determine that you've moved from a national entity to a state entity without google. Once you figure out that you've read three paragraphs thinking you were reading about national regulation, but then figure out it is state statute, you have to reread the section again with the right mental framework. If I were a 1L, I would think I just don't have reading casebooks down yet, but given that I'm almost done with school [I can graduate this semester] I don't think its solely user error.Finally, the notes at the end of the cases are really frustrating. More than half of the notes are posed as questions, or don't complete the thought. So I have to google whether or not the U.S. Senate ratified the 1994 U.N. Agreement Relating to the Implementation of Part XI of UNCLOS. They tell me Clinton asked them too...but not whether they did. It then asks me questions, but I can't answer them because, at least in my mind, the answers are dependent on whether or not the agreement was signed.In sum, unless you have extra time supplement your learning with google and WestLaw [and, heaven help you, you're not trying to read in a remote location where there is no internet service] this book provides more frustration than principles of learning, and I would NOT recommend it to anyone who actually wants to learn the law.

Very topical. I usually sell my books after class has ended, but in this case I might keep it for reference.