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I'm in the humanities and it is normal that after a book comes out book reviews of said book will appear in journals. Now while I think it is expected that scholars write book reviews of other scholars' books, they do it mainly as a service to the field but it doesn't really count for much and are usually are not cited (unless they become part of a larger dispute). Thus they don't really help one's google scholar citation count etc.

Still, they obviously form an important part of the academic environment in the humanities. That is why I was wondering how you use book reviews in your research? I for one, occasionally read reviews of books that I heard of and want to get a quick summary of, but, if I have read a book (say for my lit review etc), I also like to double check whether my interpretation of the book agrees with that of others that have read the book.

Are there any other uses? I suppose I am just wondering because, again, these reviews seem to be quite important (taking up substantial space in journals), but don't get much credit.

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  • Informally, just as an interested and avid reader, I gain lots of knowledge from book reviews. For example, I only read reviews of "From Bauhaus to our house" and never the book itself, but I can intelligently discuss its concepts as needed. Sort of like movies whose trailers one has seen.
    – JosephDoggie
    Commented May 10, 2023 at 15:02

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(1) To start with the most obvious use case, book reviews are a quick way to decide whether you should buy the book or not; for example, university librarians might use it as a guide to decide whether to order a book or not.

(2) Both students and academics often use book reviews as a way to get a rough idea of the key topics dealt with in a certain book, especially if the book uses extremely obtuse language and highly abstract concepts (ex: topics related to metaphysics, ontology, epistemology, etc.). In other words, book reviews can help you to prepare in advance for reading a very difficult or challenging book.

(3) Academics often read book reviews to get a quick grasp of recent developments in their highly specialized topic of research. Book reviews are much more narrow in scope than literature reviews. If I am an expert in say, Chaucer's medieval poetry or Gandhara's Greco-Buddhist sculptures, then it is much easier to read book reviews, because a literature review tends to be too broad, and only a small portion of that literature review will be relevant to my specialized interests.

(4) Some academics use book reviews as a way to check whether the book would be a good fit as reading materials for one of their classes.

(5) For books that deal with controversial topics, it can be helpful to read reviews by different people so as to get a grasp of different perspectives or interpretations, broader implications, or the merits/demerits, or possible flaws found in the arguments espoused by the book author.

(6) If you agree to do a book review, you will normally be sent a free copy that you can keep for yourself. It's a nice way to get free books. Sometimes the reviewer will offer the book to one of their students.

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    Your second point means that they do this in addition to reading the actual book, correct?
    – user170989
    Commented May 10, 2023 at 4:22
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    Yes, as a preparation for reading a difficult book. I will update the answer to clarify.
    – djohn
    Commented May 10, 2023 at 14:48

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