About book reviews
Periodically I am sent books from publishers to review, check out and hopefully mention on whipup. When I do a review I try to see the good in a book, but of course I also look how it could be improved upon and if its interesting or different enough to want to actually buy it. I recently mentioned in the comments of a post how I go about doing a book review …
when I review a book, I look at it from various angles. design, layout, writing style, content. If I don’t personally like the book I try to look at it from another persons perspective - would this book be suitable for beginners, or as a source of inspiration.
If the book has some great features but is not up to scratch in some ways then I say that too. However I am not going to burn a book for not being everything for everyone, and I am not going to criticise a book harshly on one point when it may have other points in its favour. In this way perhaps I am diplomatic.
The aim of my reviews is to give readers a balanced view and a chance to see if this book might be suitable for them - if it is modern funky and hip I will say so, if it simple and basic and functional I say so, if it old fashioned or has a particular style I say all of those things so that the reader can decide for themselves if this is a book they might want to own.
What I want to know from readers is …. What do you look for in a book review?
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April 6th, 2007 at 8:20 am
I look for enough information that I can decide whether the book is worth the investment. I find it particularly useful to get a detailed Table of Contents and enough photos of spreads from a book to get a good sense of the projects and how they are organized. Given that craft books are rich in visual contents, a lot of the times, that is all I need. Basically, I am looking for “show me more than tell me”. The reviewer’s opinion can be useful if it provides additional factual information rather than being a simple expression of like/dislike.
A suggestion: if the book is available on Amazon.com with the “Search inside” feature, it would be useful to show pages that are not shown there, to increase the amount of information available to the potential buyer.
BTW, thanks for posting on this topic. :)
April 6th, 2007 at 12:42 pm
This is timely as I am planning some book reviews on my site of books recently purchased and won. That said, I have liked your approach a lot. No point in bashing a book; you give a balanced perspective. In a craft book I am usually looking for one of 2 things 1. projects I will actually DO that I couldn’t just figure out by looking at a photo or 2. a great deal of visual inspiration (ie some of the Japanese books).
Keep the book reviews coming, I find them really helpful. And, as the commenter above said, photos of pages are great if you can get away with it.
April 6th, 2007 at 10:27 pm
I want to know if the book is worth the money I’m going to spend on it. Will I make the projects in it…..will I learn anything from it. I do like reading your book reviews so keep doing them.
April 9th, 2007 at 7:07 pm
When I review craft books, I look for the following:
Does the book discuss materials and equipment needed for the techniques covered? Are cheap alternatives given? What about tips for evaluating top of the line?
Is the book project or technique oriented? I prefer the latter, though I’ve seen some great project oriented craft books; in either case, is there a clear and logical progression for learning the material? What I particularly detest are the `pattern’ 2hour project books in which you buy a bunch of the crap already made and simply assemble because you don’t really learn much, which leads me to…
Does the book have a gallery of finished projects, covering a variety of styles? And does the author tie the gallery to the techniques (preferably at every level)? Does the author suggest ways for turning one’s inspirations into projects?
Finally, I look at design and writing. Are the instructions clear and easy to follow? Poor copy-editing, mis-captioned photos, missing info on materials, dimensions, etc are all distracting.
Here is a review of what I felt was a top-notch craft book, and why I liked it.
http://www.rejiquar.com/Craft/kropper_handmade_books.html
April 9th, 2007 at 7:12 pm
Hit the submit too fast—So, when I’m looking at other folks’ reviews, I’m hoping they’ll answer those same questions, above. And I have to admit, I not only like a gallery, I like it in color, lusciously photographed, too;)
I do think it’s important to emphasize a book’s strengths and weaknesses. If I’m mostly looking for inspiration, then I want lots of variety and good photography in the gallery section. If I’m looking to learn basic techniques, then clear instructions are a must. But the best craft books have everything.
April 11th, 2007 at 10:12 am
The one thing I look for first is a general description of the target audience: if I don’t fit into that group, then it’s unlikely I’ll buy the book even if it’s really great. I will skim-read reviews of books that aren’t targeted to my sort of crafting, just to keep them in mind for later or for gifts/recommendations for other people.
I do like to see fair criticism of a book, if it’s needed - it lets me know that the reviewer isn’t just raving about every single item they look at regardless of actual quality.
I also like to see a brief mention of what the book *doesn’t* cover - sometimes this really gives you a good idea of what to expect. E.g. Norah Gaughn’s ‘Knitting Nature’ doesn’t have a lot of colour-work knitting in it, it’s more focused on texture.
April 13th, 2007 at 8:55 pm
Above all, honesty. I want to know the good, the bad and the ugly. We see enough advertising that we’d have to print money in order to buy all the “must-haves” that they tout.
If the book is about a craft I would like to know the level of instruction included in the book. There are many subjects that would totally bore an intermediate to expert and be a complete waste of time and money.
Since there is such a slew of books being published on a daily basis my rule for any purchase (magazine or book) is that there must be 5 or more things that interest me before I will make a purchase. Life is too cluttered to accept anything less. Including pictures of projects, ideas or what-have-you would be extremely helpful in a book review.
Hitting the highs, lows, ideas, thoughts and overall perception are what I look for in a book review. I use book reviews to know whether or not it is worth my time to check out the book myself.
Thanks for asking and I look forward to what you learn from the comments.
April 15th, 2007 at 10:06 pm
One thing I would like a review of a craft book to tell me is whether the info/techniques/projects are really original or unusual or whether the same sort of thing can be found in many other books. I am always looking for new papercraft techniques, and the more books you have the more difficult it gets to find interesting and worthwhile books on the subject and i’m sure the same is true of any other craft.