Over the next few months, I am going to offer the first in a running series of short book reviews.
Reviews will appear at least once a month and be no more than a thousand words each. Ideally, they will be much closer to five hundred words but books vary in breadth and scope and reviews should, too.
Most of what I read revolves around current research projects, but I tend to wander beyond my areas of interest into more general history and current events while also keeping up with recently released fact and fiction.
Some reviews will be more academic than others (as the subject demands), but my point of departure (or basis for title selection) will not be any form of expertise — well, other than as an avid book reader with a moderate attention span and an affection for declarative sentences.
And since I have been teaching for a few years now and tutor individual students, I thought I would share the template for the series while breaking down the core elements of a review at the same time.
CORE ELEMENTS OF A REVIEW
Books reviews are supposed to be challenging.
Reviewers must often relate highly specialized research or work in a broad way while making a direct effort to avoid alienating both experts and the general public.
They have to be critical without engaging in personal attacks or trespassing over the author’s credentials, experience, and intent.
And they also have to avoid retelling or replicating the contents of the book in question — after all, why should I read it if you’re going to do that for me?
Below are the five inescapable, core elements of a review. I have arranged them in a complimentary order that makes the most sense to me but you could rearrange the middle three to reflect your own approach.
+ What is it about and what does it argue?
+ What content or evidence does it offer and is it effective?
+ What are its strengths and weaknesses?
+ Where does it fit into the existing literature?
+ Why read it?
OTHER THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND
Less is more — Answering any of these questions can take as little as a single declarative sentence without any punctuation apart from a single period. But that’s a bit brief, so feel free to help yourself to a whole paragraph. Still, be sure to keep your answers as concise and direct as possible.
It’s not about you — There’s a lot of pressure to make reviews about you: perhaps by including some story of how you came to read the book in question, your expertise on the subject, or some personal anecdote about the author. However, it isn’t your book and you should hold out on writing yourself into the review. And even if the book in question does relate to your expertise, keep in mind that the book isn’t about your expertise.
Analysis over description — of course, spoiling the plot doesn’t apply to fact like it does fiction, but you should still avoid describing things at all cost. Analysis is much more effective. And feel free to allude to things — either the reader will find out later when they read the book, or they won’t and it doesn’t matter.
SAMPLE REVIEWS
A Comicbook Orange (ACO) — happens to be a video podcast about comic books but it’s still the best short review available in any medium! It is concise, engaging, and superbly written. And what I like most is how it slays the perception that comic appreciation (read: any appreciation) is all fanfare by leveling relevant, well-founded criticism on their weekly selection of titles.
It’s probably one of the best examples for students learning how to be critical of art and literature and likely one of the most under-appreciated reviews out there.
Literary Review of Canada (LRC) — is a print magazine in Canada with a keen eye for typography (read: it’s pretty and uncluttered) that offers a monthly series of reviews from various authors, intellectuals, and public officials on a wide variety of fact and fiction.
Their reviews tend to more lengthy than what you’ll find in other magazines and newspapers but offer less gimmicky — please, please, please read our review section — filler by including more contextual or historical information. In other words, their approach is less should you read this book? and more how does this book change our perspective about? …well, whatever it’s about.
Canadian Historical Review (CHR) — specializes in short reviews by members of a select community (in this case, the Canadian historical community) much like other academic journals. Their approach has a near-perfect balance between general and specialized information — meaning, in other words, that readers from different fields, students, and the public could find them, if not equally useful, then certainly equally accessible.
They also help demonstrate a type of peer review that illustrates less of a personal assessment of the reviewer’s expertise and more an example of different ways of exploring topics, discussing themes, and solving problems.
NOTE
(1) I will be updating this regularly based on feedback from students.
(2) Titles selected for review in this series are not paid endorsements.
Last updated: Saturday 8 May 2010.
