Book Reviews and You!

A Guide to Writing Pretty Decent Book ReviewsAlessandro Regio – IHEID – October 2015

Why do we even bother?• Book reviews are important…apparently• Commercial book reviews are important for people who

want information about a book before they buy• Editors of newspapers or journals need a way to get a lot

of information to their readers in a condensed format• Policy/Critical book reviews are important for policy makers

who want to have a whole book’s argument reduced into a couple of pages

What makes a good book review?

Depends who you ask

What makes a good book review?While there are some stylistic differences between different sorts of book reviews, some parts are present across all different schools of thought:

1.Introduction2.Establish Author’s Argument3.Evaluate Author’s Argument4.Review Book’s Premises and Promises

What makes a good book review?

•The “5 – 10 – 85 Rule”•5% Introduction•10% Book Summary•85% Book Review

Introducing your Book Review

Introduction• A strong introduction gives the reader the following:• A basic understanding of the book’s background, topic, scope.• A basic understanding of the author himself/herself• Type of book you are reviewing• General themes of the book

What would you include in the introduction?

Introduction

• In a policy oriented book review the following is critical to the introduction• State the policy field• Identify your audience (policy makers at what level?)

• It should include• The author’s main argument• Your approach to reviewing/critiquing the author’s main argument• A roadmap to the rest of your review

Introduction

1. The background and policy applications of this book2. Small information on the author3. Author’s argumentation4. Your roadmap to how you are going to review the book5. OPTIONAL : A small sentence foreshadowing how good or

bad the book actually is at making its argument

Summarizing the Book

Book Summary• The trickiest section of the book review. Why?• Not a lot of space to tell the reader the major points of the book• Kind of like explaining to someone the entire Harry Potter story in a short elevator ride

• Ideally, you tell us enough about the book without spoiling the book for us• You need to use your own words to tell us about the book• Quotes are fine, so is paraphrasing, but you’re still responsible for choosing what to

include and what not to include in the book summary• This is the spot that many book review writers get stuck doing for the whole

review

Book Summary

• A Book Review is not the same as a Book Report• As a reader of a book review, I am less interested in

the content of the book as I am about the argument of the book• Do not get tricked into just rewriting the book for 2K-

2.5K words

Book Summary

1. A quick, brief rundown of the plot/parts of the book2. Choose major points of the book carefully3. Explain why/how those major points are important to:

1. The book’s argument2. Your own assessment of the book

4. DO NOT make the entire book review into a summary of what happens in the book

Reviewing that damn Book

Book Review• The meat of the review, 85% of the text should be

about reviewing• Critical Points to remember• A review is a review because you review• This is the part where you tell us how good or how bad a book actually is!

• Your voice has to shine here• A book review cannot be boring, it has to keep the reader attached

• Attack the argument of the book!• Even if you agree with the author, “stress-testing” the argument is

important. If the argument makes it past the “stress-test”, then you can say that the author did a good job

• If you disagree with the author, this is where you tell us why he/she is wrong

Book Review• The author tried to write an argument throughout the

entire book, now we need to know if it’s any good• How do we attack an argument?• Attack premises• Challenge data collection• Challenge case study selection• Question author bias

Book Review1. Choose how you’re going to test the book2. Attack the argument3. Keep the analysis and your “findings” at the intended

audience’s reading level4. Tell us if the book’s argument lived up to the author’s

promises5. Is this book worth reading? Did the author do a good

job?