Writing a Book Review for MSW

[ccoyle]

In this section of the forum, one finds all things book-and-magazine related: questions, discussions, and of course reviews. Many of the reviews have been tagged by a moderator with the label "book review". Some of the reviews have not been tagged in this manner because, well, they don't really give as much information as one would like to see when reading a review. A good review is more than just, "I read this book and I like it/don't like it."

 

All of us like to find out as much as we can in advance when considering parting with our hard-earned cash, so how can a reviewer make a review more useful? You can get an idea by looking at a few of the tagged reviews. Here are some things you should include:

 

1. The title of the book. Put this in the title of your post as well.

2. The author's name.

3. The publishing data, i.e. name of publisher and date of publication. If the book you're reviewing is not a first edition, include the publication date for the first edition. Same goes if the book is a reprint.

4. Pertinent specs such as format, number of pages, whether the book has photos (color or B&W), suggested retail price, etc.

5. Modelers are especially keen to know if the book has plans, drawings, color plates, or any other such informative goodies. What kind and how many? Good quality or bad? Anything particularly noteworthy?

6. Summarize the contents of the book. What does it cover? What doesn't it cover? We want to know what's in it!

7. And finally, give your subjective opinion of the book. Did you enjoy it? Why or why not? Are there highlights or shortcomings that you think potential readers would appreciate knowing about? Let them know!

 

We look forward to reading your submissions!

 

P.S. Please don't apply a prefix tag to your post! MSW staff will take care of that. Thanks!

[Keith Black]

Chris

 I use my post, The French Prize, as an example.

 If someone like myself is passing on their thoughts on what they think is a good read and someone thinks "that sounds interesting", they can Google the title/author and get the mechanics of the book at the same time they're determining where to buy if they so choose. I don't find it necessary to duplicate information Google has at the ready when passing on thoughts about a book. In this case would the proper place to post be in Nautical General Discussion?  

 Keith

Edited May 18, 2019 by Keith Black

[ccoyle]

Keith, posts like what you describe are appropriate for this section. The flagging is only meant to indicate posts that are more "review-ish" in nature for anyone looking for that sort of info.