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Customer Rating:
Summary: Originality vs. creativity
Comment: This book is meant for a variety of readers: writers (beware), legal eagles (what is the difference
between plagiarism and copyright infringement?), students (don't copy that Wikipedia article),
professors (be careful about your student's research), etc. It is brief and to the point, yet
raises several interesting questions. Do we most value originality or creativity? Posner defines
the difference, although some readers may disagree with a a few bits here and there.
/>According to Posner, the concept of plagiarism as a bad thing is a fairly recent attitude.
Shakespeare and others in the past -- from the Egyptians to the writers of the Bible -- have copied
earlier works, improved on them or not, expanding the ideas and the discussion.

One
concept is missing from the present discussion, however, that of "work for hire." For instance,
writers are often paid to write works, fiction in particular, in a specific milieu, often under
another name, without receiving public credit for that work. This may include students who do the
research for a scholarly book that the professor writes (but I would not think the same holds true
if the student does the actual writing and credit should be given, of course). Posner also states
that plagiarism is more of a problem for students than professors. Given the "publish or perish"
mentality of universities in hiring and granting tenure to professors, it would seem that plagiarism
could become more and more of a temptation.

Beginning with the young "chick lit" author
whose work was full of copied sections, working through scholarly writers, many instances of being
caught are cited. Posner, like the news media, places greater emphasis on the fiction rather than
the scholarly. The young Harvard student was virtually pilloried in the press. The only plagiarism
in scholarly work that came close to being so condemned, was that of Stephen Ambrose. Most
professors caught plagiarizing are forgiven by their institutions and, it would seem, the
public.

It is important to consider this problem especially in light of the new
software being used by universities that can identify plagiarism, access to virtually any written
work via the Internet, and the ability for the news media and others to identify stolen work. There
are some who espouse the idea that all creative work should be "open source." The possibilities are
numerous.

Customer Rating:
Summary: if you are reading this, you should buy the book
Comment: For those of us who enjoyed Judge Posner's Public Intellectuals or Law & Literature, this very
little book fits in that niche -- easy to read, full of charming bits, grindingly rational. The
book's topic and brevity will give it a natural market among school administrators and teachers.
Maybe a private school or two will make it required reading for students. Students in particular
need to know that schools now are using an internet software service to catch plagiarists. />
But like Posner's other books, this one asks a deep and haunting question. Why do we prize
originality so much? The best writers (Posner cites Shakespeare) copied extensively, improving as
they went. The ancient Egyptians went thousands of years painting the same odd figures on their
tombs; they disdained originality. Ironically, Posner explains, student textbooks may be the least
original of modern writings.

The book is well worth $[...], an evening's reading, and
further reflection.

Customer Rating:
Summary: This review is not copied...
Comment: While this review is not a copy of any other review (and indeed, to guard against any overt
plagiarism, I am typing it without notes and straight to submission, without an editing stage), that
is not to say that it will not in fact end up being copied by someone, somewhere. Plagiarism
reaching epidemic proportions is one of the unintended consequences of the internet and its vast
availability - much in forms easily adapated to cut-and-paste functions - makes it both a blessing
and a curse.

Posner's book starts with the now infamous case of the Harvard student,
who, having secured book and movie deals even prior to her entrance to the prestigious Ivy League
school, was publically disgraced when it was revealed that substantial elements of her first novel
were taken from novels of similar ilk, sometimes in almost verbatim terms. Posner's book goes on to
look at other incidents both past and present (to what extent would Shakespeare be branded a
plagiarist?), the philosophical implications (moral and ethical), and some legal and consequential
issues. What should be done with plagiarists? Of course, the answer varies, as will the reader's
opinion here.

Posner suggests that the internet will also be a saving grace in this --
indeed, I could relate to the issues he brings up as I am a professor who regularly uses the
Turnitin.com service, which scans not only the internet but also a database of previously submitted
papers. I have found at least one student in each of the last several semesters who has simply
lifted an article or paper off the internet and turned it in as his or her own. Posner suggests
that instructors who are not on the ball and using some kind of similar safeguard are naive. />
I must confess, I'd heard some of what he's written before, but then duplication is
acceptable, provided sources are cited, right? The book itself is very small -- I read it in one
go, and reminded me somewhat both in style and size of Harry Frankfurt's book, the title of which
the filters here don't permit me to mention...

Customer Rating:
Summary: Plagiarism as a culturally conditioned reaction to Enlightenment individualism and market driven economy (see pgs. 64-75)
Comment: Posner is an accomplished federal judge and author. As a judge Posner adeptly distinguishes subtle
differences in the way ideas are copied. What is plagiarism? - Posner asks. Posner give his full
answer at the book's end: "Plagiarism is a species of intellectual fraud. It consists of
unauthorized copying that the copier claims (whether explicitly or implicitly, and whether
deliberately or carelessly) is original with him and the claims causes the copier's audience to
behave otherwise than it would if it knew the truth" (pg. 106).
Posner not only discusses
contemporary plagiarism but gives a history of the topic that places the modern version in its
context. The first recorded usage of modern sense of plagiarism was in the Roman Empire by the poet
Martial who claimed his work was plagiarized, Posner continues by giving additional examples which
complicate our notions and require distinctions on terms such as "copy", "fraud", "plagiarism",
"imitation", "copyright infringement", etc. Gathering together his ideas in the last chapter, Posner
writes, "The vagueness of the concept of plagiarism should be acknowledged and thus a gray area
recognized in which creative imitation produces value that should undercut a judgment of plagiarism
- indeed an imitator may produce greater value than an originator, once 'originality' is understood,
as it should be if we are to understand plagiarism in properly relativistic terms, just to mean
difference, not necessarily creativity. In modern commercial society, which places the stamp of
personality on goods both physical and intellectual for economic reasons unrelated to high culture,
a verdict of plagiarism is pronounced without regard to the quality of the plagiarized original or,
for that matter, of the plagiarizing copy" (pg. 108-109).

This book is short, fun,
written clearly, intelligent, and a challenge. It challenges the definition of plagiarism as
"literary theft" and instead emphasizes "reliance, detectability, and the extent of the market for
expressive works as keys to defining plagiarism and calibrating the different types of plagiarism by
their gravity" (pg. 109). Unfortunately, Posner gives us only one court case in his brief history of
plagiarism (Rogers v. Koons).