Book review: Modern criminal law of Australia by Jeremy Gans

It is not often that you laugh out loud when reading a textbook, but that is exactly what happened when we read Modern Criminal Law of Australia. 1 The author’s humour, sometimes overt and sometimes subtle, shines through the introduction to this text and his wit is sure to assist in student engagement with the subject matter. Humour, though, is not the only thing that makes this text unique. It is a criminal law textbook, designed largely as a learning tool. However, the table of contents is not reflective of the usual topics to be found in other criminal law textbook iterations. Chapters are headed with a single word, designed around themes that appear in criminal law and procedure. Offences and defences are not the hub of the text; instead references to offences are illustrative only of the wider concepts. It is this feature that drew us to this text.