Hi,
I started my PhD a couple of weeks ago. One of the lecturers in my research group sent round an email informing us of a journal (which I think has its editorial base here) which is looking for staff (postgraduates welcome) to write book summaries, and he has attached a 4 page document of books to choose from.
My initial reaction was "YES! I must do this" but being a new student and already feeling out of my depth I'm not so sure if I would be up to it.
What are other people's experiences of writing things like this?
Two problems: book summaries carry no prestige, i.e. they are not regarded as "proper" publications by your colleagues, hence doing little to improve your reputation. even the opposite.
Secondly, sounds like donkey work, nobody wants to do it, takes a long time, rewards are little. Given that you are a new PhD student you obviously don't know this and might get exploited for more donkey tasks in the future.
Do yourself a favour and focus on your PhD. There are too many distractions and side paths which lead into misery, only.
I somewhat agree with Jouri -book reviews don't really count for much. I have seen students do 3/4 book reviews and it just looks a bit desperate. However, doing a book review is a good way to ease yourself into the whole process of publishing and dealing with journal editors/copy-editors.
I have steered clear of book reviews because of the inherent critical nature i.e., you have to critique someone elses work and that person will usually be more experienced and qualified than yourself. You are left with the choice of putting your neck on the block and writing exactly what you feel about the book, or otherwise writinh some generic review, chapter-by-chapter.
I did two book reviews a couple of years ago, that I got through my respective supervisors. Both related directly to my PhD area and were books I would have had to read anyway. I was several years into my research by then, so was able to do critical reviews as I knew the area and could see the strengths and weaknesses of the work, to some extent. Critiquing someone else's work did make me a bit nervous though, particularly as they were for the major journals in my field and my supervisors are on the respective editorial boards, so I spent far too long on them, which took time away from my PhD.
I wouldn't do them unless it was specifically related to 'my' topic and I felt I had something academically valid to contribute to any review (as opposed to a summary). I think it does help to publicly locate you within a particular field to some extent, perhaps that's partly why supervisors give this type of work to their students, though it would obviously have to be followed up with more robust authored publications in the future. A trivial thing, but it's nice to get free copies of books, especially when they're ridiculously expensive hardbacks ;-)
I agree with the 'putting your head on the block' comment. It does get your name out there (if those 'oh great Academics on high' ever flick through them) but would you put them on your CV as a publication? Its not like they're peer-reviewed are they?
This DEPENDS.
Its easy to get to write a review u just write to a journal they are always pressed for reviewers and they send u the book.
There are other situations as well. Sometimes an academic *asks* you to review a particular book. Either theirs, or someone's they know. And for a specific journal. A specific book. In a particular area/topic. Thats a totally different situation.
Also, i dnt know what you mean by book summary. A 'review' is not meant to be a summary though many people do that.
As you probably realise there are many variations in this: generally asking to write a review and writing a review which is common, high academics writing for prestigious journals well into the third decade of their careers is another thing, and being asked to write a long review essay on a specific book by a specific academic is another issue....
so, take your call...
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