Why write a book review?

There are several reasons why you should begin writing book reviews early in your graduate career.

To make a contribution

Even students just starting out in graduate school can often provide very thoughtful evaluations of published work in their area of interest and knowledge. It's important for you to enter the intellectual discussion as soon as you have something to say, and book reviews are one good way to do this.

To perform an academic service

Book reviewing is a valuable service to the academic community, and it's worth getting familiar early on with a task that you'll probably continue to perform throughout your academic career.

To beef up your CV

Book reviews give you a chance to strengthen the publication section of your CV, especially before you're at the stage of your career where you're ready to publish your own research. Although book reviews aren't weighted as heavily as original research articles in hiring and other personnel decisions, they do have some value, and a book review or two will help you begin to develop your CV.

To learn how to write a book

One of the most effective ways to master the conventions of academic writing is to read closely and analytically, the way you need to in order to do a book review. In preparation for writing your own first academic book-length manuscript--your dissertation--it's extremely useful to get a clear idea of how an academic book is put together by looking at some examples in detail.

To read

Most academics, including graduate students, never have enough time to do all the reading they want to do in their field. Doing book reviews gives you an excellent excuse to read books of interest to you and helps you keep on top of current trends in your field.

To get a free gift

A not inconsiderable factor in deciding to do a book review, especially when you're a penurious graduate student, is the added benefit of receiving a free book as compensation for your time and expertise. Academic books can be quite expensive, and receiving a free copy of a book of interest to you (typically in hardback) is a very pleasant bonus for doing a book review.

To become known in your field

Perhaps the most important reason to do book reviews is that it brings you into the scholarly conversation and allows you to make connections with other scholars. As a reviewer, you'll gain attention from the author and from journal readers as a new voice in the field. You may even hear personally from the author (if your review was especially positive or insightful--or, unfortunately, if it was especially negative or clueless, at least in the author's view).

If you submit a well-written review within the deadline indicated by the editor, you may also become a valuable reviewer for the journal. Soon, you may no longer need to offer your services as a reviewer because you'll be receiving requests from editors to review books for them. Having a good relationship with a journal editor as a book reviewer may also help ease the way a bit when you're ready to submit a manuscript on your own research to the journal. In academia, as in Hollywood, it's always better to be known than unknown.

Why not write a book review?

Despite the advantages listed above, some faculty members don't recommend that students do book reviews. I don't share this view, but it's worth considering the reasons for it.

It requires too much expertise

Some faculty worry that graduate students, especially early in their careers, may lack the requisite knowledge to do a good review. My own feeling is that while some students may not have enough preparation to review a book well, having a Ph.D. doesn't guarantee that a book reviewer has the necessary background either. What's most important in a reviewer is not a particular professional status but a solid knowledge of the general topic of the book. Obviously, you should not review a book if you don't have adequate background to make a sound evaluation of its quality. Sometimes it's hard to tell from the title alone if you have sufficient background to review the book; however, book review editors would prefer that you return a book that you're not qualified to review rather than submit a review that doesn't do the book justice. However, don't sell yourself short in your ability to evaluate another's work; although you should have some solid background and a serious intellectual interest in the book's subject area, you don't need extensive research experience in order to recognize its strengths and weaknesses. In fact, many prolific (and effective) reviewers don't conduct research themselves.

It's too risky

A second concern of some faculty members is that students may cause lasting harm to their careers by criticizing the work of a more senior scholar in a book review. This too is a valid concern, but it need not prevent students from writing book reviews altogether. To begin with, it's important to bear in mind that in general the book review genre (at least in sociocultural linguistics) is typically very polite--most reviews are very positive, and very rarely does a scathing review make it into print. While this may seem to suggest that a fear of giving offense has led to a silencing of open critique, that's not in fact the case. A good reviewer can raise criticisms of a book in a respectful and measured way, which is important in order to ensure that the review is taken seriously by readers and not dismissed as a personal attack. And most reviewers prefer to spend time reviewing books that connect with their own intellectual commitments, so if you've selected a book to review because it's close to your interests, it may be that you won't be able to find much to criticize. If you find yourself unable to understand or share the author's goals on any level, you should probably decline to review it and ask the book review editors to find a more sympathetic reviewer. Book reviews do carry weight in the world--they're often used, officially or unofficially, in making decisions about hiring, tenure, promotion, and other forms of academic recognition. But there's a difference between writing a career-destroying review and writing a fair but critical review.

Because there are very real risks and pitfalls in evaluating someone's scholarship publicly, it's strongly recommended that you seek a faculty member's advice when beginning the process of book reviewing, both in selecting a book to review and a journal to review for, and in ensuring that the review is accurate, fair, and politic in tone. Some journals require faculty supervision of student book reviewers. Whether this is true of the journal you select or not, you should certainly seek such supervision and take very seriously the advice you receive.

It's a distraction from your own work

Besides the concerns mentioned above, there is a third reason why some faculty members discourage students from doing book reviews: they take time away from the student's own research and writing. This is an especially significant concern since, as noted above, book reviews often don't count as "real" publications at hiring time. This is an important point to keep in mind, and it may be enough to persuade some students that book reviewing is not something they want to pursue at this stage in their careers (or at any stage--some academics never write a single book review). However, book reviews yield many other valuable benefits for your career and for your field, as enumerated above. At any rate, book reviews don't need to take a tremendous amount of time, especially if you were planning to read the book anyway, so you don't lose a lot of time that would otherwise be given to your own work by taking a few days to write up your evaluation of the book and getting it published.

In short, I encourage graduate students to do book reviews, provided that the above concerns don't loom so large that it would indeed be counterproductive. If you're a rank beginner in your field, if you're extremely anxious about offending an author, or if you're currently in academic jeopardy, you should hold off on doing book reviews until you're more prepared to enter into this kind of academic dialogue.

Selecting a book for review

In most cases, the journal will send you the book that you are reviewing. Unless you end up not doing the review, the book is yours to keep. If you happen already to own the book, you should let the editor know that you don't need a copy (unless you want an extra).

Volunteered reviews

You may already know of a recently published book you want to review. If so, you may contact the editor of the journal in which you want to publish your review and ask if the book is available for review, although this is an atypical way to begin the reviewing process and should only be pursued if you passionately want to review a particular book. This strategy will be more successful if the book you want to review isn't written by the most prominent scholar in your field or isn't on the current hot topic in your discipline. If you decide to go this route, save yourself and the editor some trouble and first check "Publications received" in back issues of the journal. (For details, see below.) If the book is within the journal's scope and not wildly popular, many editors are happy to have you volunteer a review, especially if you already own a copy of the book.

Finding books available for review

Unless you have a strong case for volunteering a review, you should select a book from a list of books available for review for a particular journal (also called "Publications received" ). Some journals and websites provide such lists online. Others only publish the lists in the back of each issue of the journal. Check the journal's website or the most recent issue for publication lists and review guidelines. Then contact the editor and offer to review for them. It is highly recommended that you select two or three titles you're willing to review for a journal, so that if your top choice has already been claimed, the journal can send you your second or third choice. (Make clear you only want to review one of the books, unless you're willing to do more than one review at once!)

Choosing the right book

Not all books on these lists may be something you want to review. Publishers send review copies to a wide range of journals: popular books, textbooks, and books in adjacent fields may be submitted for review along with scholarly monographs and edited volumes. Textbooks can be difficult to review unless you've taught in the area or know the field very well; edited volumes often have many authors covering a range of topics, not all of them in your area of interest; popular books and books in other fields need to be evaluated according to different criteria than scholarship in your discipline. A few tips for picking the right book:

• Pay attention to the number of pages. These are provided for each book listed in the "Publications received" section. Edited volumes and reference works in particular can be huge, and if you don't have time to read 800 pages, be sure not to pick a big book.
• Find out what's in it. Go to the publisher website, Amazon, or other sources that may provide the table of contents of the book, as well as a short description. This will give you a better sense of whether it's of interest to you.
• Be cautious about reviewing a book that's far from your main area of interest. There are three reasons for this. First, anything you review is a public statement of who you are. If you review too broadly, it may suggest to people who read your CV that you lack focus. Second, since book reviewing is already a significant time commitment, it makes the most sense to review books relevant to your own work, not to side interests. Third, it's not fair to an author for her or his major scholarly work to be reviewed by someone who doesn't have a lot of insight into the field. However, reviewing a book that's adjacent to your area of interest can often be a rewarding experience both for you and for the author. If you aren't sure where to draw the line on this issue, seek some guidance from a faculty member in your field.
• Don't necessarily select a book by a famous scholar. For one thing, it's likely that the editor has already chosen a reviewer (typically, an equally famous scholar), or that someone else has already claimed the book for review. But more importantly, there are many excellent books by lesser-known and junior scholars that deserve your serious attention. Discovering interesting work by someone you didn't know is often a much more valuable intellectual experience than reviewing well-known work by the academic superstars.
• Finally, you should never review a book if there is a possible conflict of interest: for example, a book by one of your current or recent professors, by someone with whom you have a personal enmity, or by a friend or relative. Merely disagreeing with someone's approach is not a conflict of interest, and this difference in perspective can make for a more interesting review.

Writing the review

A good review is clear, orderly, and fair. It should not merely summarize but also evaluate. Like most academic writing, reviews are extremely formulaic: They generally open with (1) an introductory comment or two on the overall value of the book; then (2) summarize each chapter in order, including chapter numbers but not titles, and citing authors if the book is an edited collection; then (3) mention the book's greatest strengths; then (4) mention its greatest weaknesses; then (5) give an overall assessment once again. If the book is an edited volume, most evaluation will take place in the discussion of each chapter, after the summary. You should follow this structure in your own reviews, at least until you've mastered the standard formula.

Many reviews offer nothing but praise, whether because the reviewer is of like mind with the author or for political reasons. Certainly, as noted above, it is at least a minor risk to issue a criticism of a book in a public forum, especially when you're just beginning your career. However, you should not be afraid to critique a book that has problems (and all books do). Most authors will appreciate the fact that you took your reviewing task seriously, even if they disagree with your critique, and a rare few will even thank you for it. To be effective, criticism should be presented professionally. Sarcasm, insults, and strongly worded attacks should be avoided, as should the wholesale dismissal of an approach that doesn't accord with your own. Always offer support for your position (e.g., quotations or details from the book) and weigh the positive with the negative.

As mentioned above, it is conventional in most areas of linguistics and many related fields to present criticism in very gentle and indirect terms. This is a skill well worth acquiring. Read a variety of reviews to get an idea of how to word your negative comments most effectively. One good strategy is to emphasize the positive: e.g., "The argument would have been even more persuasive if it had included X, Y, and Z." In general, it is advisable to offer praise first and then criticism, to soften the blow. If you feel that overall a book is more bad than good, try to communicate this as fairly as you can. And bear in mind that other fields may have different terms, methods, and theories that may be unfamiliar; don't mistake difference for intellectual failure. The book may not even be aimed at scholars in your field, so think about audience as you read and write. You can certainly cast your review in terms of your own disciplinary concerns: "While linguists may view the linguistic analysis as oversimplistic, geographers, who are the intended audience for the book, may well find the focus on language innovative and valuable. In any case, it is encouraging to see the field of geography turning to linguistic questions."

You may find it desirable to cite other materials in the course of the review; some journals permit this and others discourage it. The style of citation may also differ radically between journals (e.g., in the text versus at the end of the text). You should try to minimize references as much as possible.

The review should conform both in length and in style to the publication guidelines for the journal or website where you plan to publish it. The book review editor may send you specific guidelines; otherwise consult the general guidelines published by the journal or website.

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Last modified on: November 27, 2006.