Step One: Read the book in its entirety
Don’t just read the chapters of the book. Look at the foreword, the preface, acknowledgements, references, index, etc.
As you read, take notes in your own words about the following:
What is the thesis—or main argument—of the book?
If the author wanted you to get one idea from the book, what would it be?
What was the author trying to do? What was their aim in writing the book?
You can get some more tips on identifying the argument here
What exactly is the subject or topic of the book?
Does the author cover the subject adequately?
Does the author cover all aspects of the subject in a balanced fashion?
What is the approach to the subject (topical, analytical, chronological, descriptive)?
How did the author frame their questions?
How does the author support their argument?
What evidence do they use to prove their point?
Do you find that evidence convincing? Why or why not?
Does any of the author’s information (or conclusions) conflict with other books you have read, courses you have taken, or just previous assumptions you had of the subject?
How does the author structure their argument?
What are the parts that make up the whole?
Does the argument make sense?
Does it persuade you? Why or why not?
How has this book helped you understand the subject?
Would you recommend the book to your reader? Remember they may not be interested in exactly the same thing your research project is on. Do you think reading this book will help them expand their understanding of the issue/community?
Who is the author?
Are they Indigenous? Do they belong to the community they are discussing? What is their nationality? Political persuasion? Training? Intellectual interests? Personal history? (You may have to do some internet digging for some of this information)
Do these facts matter in relation to this text? (For example, would it change things if the subjects are the author’s own community? What difference would it make if the author participated in the events they write about?).
Step Two: Evaluate the book
Once you have read the book, take a few days to evaluate it. Think critically about the work and reflect on your answers to the questions in step one.
Carefully survey your notes and attempt to unify them into a statement that describes the central point of your review. For example, in the sample book review on our OneDrive, my central point is that while Elkholy’s Being and Becoming is an excellent ethnography its focus on the Orang Rimba as hunter-gatherers fails to engage with the fact that they are also a Southeast Asian people.
For some tips on how to construct a good thesis statement check out this handout from the University of North Carolina.
Step Three: Write the Review
Once you have your thesis statement or central point sorted, then you need to develop this thesis in a logical manner. This logic will often differ from that of other types of academic writing. You might initially emphasize the author’s argument while you develop your own as your review progresses. It will really depend on the nature of your personal review. You might like to take a look at a few published examples. You can find these by going to a journal home page and looking for book reviews in the table of contents of each journal issue.
I strongly recommend that students follow the following structure when writing their reviews.
Part 1: Introduction (1 paragraph)
Open with a general description of the topic or problem addressed in the book.
Include the background information about the book:
the name of the author, the book title, and the main theme
relevant details about who the author is and where they stand in the genre or field of enquiry
the context of the book and/or this review. You might choose to place your review within the framework of a particular community. Alternatively, you might choose to locate it within the context of a particular issue. You don’t need to try and address it within both in your review
the thesis of the book
your thesis about the book
More about introductions here.
Part 2: Summary of the Content/Primary Argument(s) (1 paragraph, 2 max)
Keep this brief because your analysis of the book’s content is what’s important. As you provide your assessment of the book you should be backing up your comments with concrete evidence from the book, so you’ll have additional summary spread throughout the rest of your review.
If there is an identifiable thesis statement, then directly quote it.
Identify the essential arguments and briefly summarize them.
Comment on the following:
what is the book’s thesis?
How is it organized? What are the major arguments?
What types of evidence are presented?
Style of anthropology – is it anthropology of religion, phenomenological, medical, or environmental? If you can’t identify a specific sub-field then omit this part.
Summarizing can be hard. It is different from describing. Make sure you focus on summarizing rather than describing. Don’t simply give me a blow-by-blow account of what the author wrote. Give me their argument in short-form. Talk about the specific points they make rather than just listing the topics they cover.
Describing content means recounting the text’s information without making distinctions between the main points, supporting evidence, and background information. Basically, you are just storyboarding the text.
Summarizing content/arguments means identifying the essential points the author is trying to convey and focuses only on that. You don’t want to try and cover all the information in the text. You may not even want to cover it in the order that it appears in the text. What you are trying to do is pinpoint the overarching idea as it appears throughout the book.
Here’s a short guide to summarizing from Simon Fraser University.
Part 3: Evaluation/Analysis (2-3 paragraphs)
This section should form the bulk of your review. You will need to organize your analysis into paragraphs so that each paragraph deals with a single point in your argument. If you note in my example, the first analysis paragraph discusses how Elkholy’s book is a ‘significant contribution to both phenomenological anthropology and the anthropology of Southeast Asian communities’ while the second focuses on my critique of how Elkholy doesn’t engage with literature on Southeast Asian cultures and the forest-village division. I could have just as easily organized this section based on the key themes of the book but I wanted to focus on how it related to the various sub-fields of anthropology it related to.
You want to make sure you use examples and quotations from the book to illustrate and prove your assessment. Try not to include too many quotations though and don’t forget to include the page numbers in parentheses when you do quote. The focus here should be on your analysis of the book’s strengths and weaknesses.
Focus both on where the book did well and where it could be improved. Be careful though not to write as though you are educating the author. They’re the expert here!
Part 4: Conclusion (1 paragraph)
In your final paragraph you want to simply restate your thesis in the context of your final judgement on the book. Summarize the central points of your review. What does this work contribute to our understanding of the topic? What limitations does it possess?
Here’s some tips from the University of North Carolina on writing conclusions.
Your book review must:
Include the full bibliographic details of the book and your name at the top of the page
Include page numbers in parentheses for any quotes from the book
Be in double-spaced, 12pt standard font
Have standard 1” margins
Be between 800 to 1,200 words in length