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How to Review a Book

Introduction

This guide is most valuable to those reviewing non-fiction.

The following checklist is meant to be only suggestive. No review should need all of these topics although as a general rule, all book reviews will include purpose, content, and authority. Beyond that, one’s selection of topics may be suggested by the book itself; if there is nothing remarkable about its style or format, leave remarks on these subjects out. Selection may also be affected by certain limitations of the review, such as length, point of view, or degree of sophistication.

II.	Contents of the Review:

A.	The General


	1.	What is it?
	2.	How does the subject of the book fit into it?


B.	The Purpose


	1.	Why was the book written?
	2.	What did the author hope to accomplish?


C.	The Title


	1.	Derivation
	2.	Meaning
	3.	Suggestiveness
	4.	Fitness
	5.	Adequacy
	6.	Ambiguity


D.	The Contents


	1.	Type of Book
		a) Description (e.g. pictorial, mood-creating, impression-giving)
		b) Narrative (e.g. chronological; relating time to characters or events)
		c) Exposition (e.g. What is the thesis of argument ? What are the author’s main ideas and how are they developed?


E.	The Authority

	1.	Author’s background, qualifications and perspective
	2.	Ideas covered/not covered
	3.	Strength and consistency of argument
	4.	Inclusion of existing relevant secondary materials and sound documentation


F.	The Writing Style and Book Format


	1.	Writing (e.g. simple/technical; clear/ turgid)
	2.	Aids to understanding and utilization (e.g. charts, maps, index, bibliography)


G.	The Significance of the Work


	1.	Compared to other works by the author
	2.	Compared to other works in the field


III.	Organization and Writing:

	Once the work has been read and digested, and reference has been made to the preceding checklist (or to other sources for information about the field of the book, the author, etc.), then it is possible to being organizing and writing the review.


A.	Preliminary

	A book review should include the following information: author’s name, title, place of publication, publisher, edition, date, and paging.

B.	The Beginning


	An effective opening will catch the reader’s attention immediately. Try not, therefore, to begin with something such as “This book is…” Instead try one of the following:


	1.	Writing a brief anecdote or some human interest item connected with the book or its author.
	2.	Use one of the more important items on the checklist as a point of departure (e.g. the significance of the book in the field).
	3.	Opening with a statement about projected treatment of the book (e.g., “Certain features of this monograph make is worth reading… but these strengths are outweighed by…”)


C.	Development

A good review will involve description, evaluation, and wherever possible, explanation of why the author wrote as he/she did. This means that you will need to relate different parts of the checklist to one another (e.g. how the author’s bias affected his/her selection and use of sources).

In the sense that the review involves relationships, it is like a short essay. To turn a review of a book into an essay about the book you may wish to

	1.	Consult outside sources to make yourself more knowledgeable on the subject covered by the book.
	2.	Quote directly from the book to illustrate a point.
	3.	Use internal citations.
	4.	Append a bibliography of works consulted, if relevant.


D.	Conclusion


	As a general rule, avoid focusing on relatively minor points. Instead, try to end the review with an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the book. If possible, relate the assessment to the opening remarks of the review so that the results are a neat package.

E.	For Further Reading


	1.	Check the online catalog under the subject heading BOOK REVIEWING for works dealing with the technique of reviewing.
	2.	For sources of book reviews in periodicals see Magills’ Literary Annual (Ref Z 1219.M33). The Expanded Academic ASAP database is good for current reviews from Booklist and Library Journal. For critical reviews published in anthologies, check the online catalog under the subject heading BOOKS – REVIEWS.

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