One of the words in the tag-line under this blog’s title is ‘reviews’.
I don’t do as many as I should.
It’s not a task thing, I simply like the thought of taking the time to record what impression a particular book makes on me as I’ve read it.
Readers here would know that I am generally tempted to over-summarise the book without actually engaging with its contents.
I found this post on Gospel Coalition, How To Write A Great Book Review, useful.
Here’s one of their points:
(2) Answer the question everyone is asking.
The obvious example is Love Wins. Is Rob Bell a universalist or not? That was the question, right? It won’t always be as obvious as Bell’s book. But you should try to find the key question people are asking about the book and, then, try to answer it.
And do not just answer the question of whether the author is right or not. That should go without saying. But ask the deeper questions. Here’s one more example. Christian Smith—you know, the “moralistic therapeutic deism” Christian Smith—is coming out with a book soon entitled, Lost in Transition: The Dark Side of Emerging Adulthood. Surely, he is talking about the fruit of the youthful “therapeutic moralistic deism” crowd from Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers who are transitioning into adulthood. Just what is this “dark side”? What implications does this have for the family, marriage, or even the economy? Does Smith answer these questions?
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