{"id":440,"date":"2005-04-09T07:30:00","date_gmt":"2005-04-09T11:30:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2005-04-08T23:46:05","modified_gmt":"2005-04-09T03:46:05","slug":"stinky-book-reviews","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/stinky-book-reviews\/","title":{"rendered":"Stinky Book Reviews"},"content":{"rendered":"

I can’t stand book reviews. Nah, that’s not right—I can’t stand
\npersonal book reviews. Wait, that’s not right either…I can’t stand
\npersonal book reviews which are so blindly biased that they ignore what
\nthe author is saying and think that a book is nightmarishly bad because
\nthey don’t agree with it. Okay, that sounds about right.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

When I go on Amazon (or BN or CBD) to look for a book, I pretty much
\nknow what I want already. If I don’t know exactly, I have a rough idea
\nof what I’m looking for so I’ll spend my time looking at book
\nspecifications. These book specifications are normally found in the
\nlast bit of the annoying blurb (ie: softcover, page count, what
\nedition, etc.)<\/p>\n

\nOh those annoying blurbs. Underpaid copywriters with no source material
\nunderneath the cracking whip of some marketer looking at the bottom
\nline while shouting “write this blurb to hit [X Demographic Age] with a
\nslant to [Random Seasonal Shopping Time] by  [absurdly short
\ndeadline]”.  You can understand why I ignore them—but one step
\nbelow (or over) that is member reviews.<\/p>\n

\nSure, it was a good idea at first. Community pitching in and helping
\neach other out, writing about the good, bad and ugly from what they’ve
\nread. Even a little button to give something wretched a single star and
\nsomething spectacular five shiny golden stars, oh the joy of it! It was
\nlike being in Kindergarten all over again and self-proclaimed pundits
\nand unknown intelligencia crawled out of the woodwork, hopped online
\nand posted their important thoughts. (Wait a sec, that’s starting to
\nsound a lot like a blog…moving right along…).<\/p>\n

\nThing is, helpful book reviews are few and far between. Most of the
\ntime it’s some person saying that a book is great because they agree
\nwith it or trashing the book because they disagreed with it. “This book
\nwas horrible. This author proves his stupidity again by going against
\nwhat I believe. Don’t buy this book or you prove that your just as
\nblind, stupid (and heretical, depending on the topic) as he.”<\/p>\n

\nWhy do reviewers have to do this? If you want to revel in your superior
\npoint of view—start a blog. Don’t bother commenting on Amazon or a book
\nreview site adding to the other assenting or dissenting voices in the
\nslim hope that someone will rate your rant as helpful. Then move over,
\nlet the good reviewers post.<\/p>\n

\nGood Reviewers, I’m talking to you, keep doing what you do best. Review
\nhow the author presented his argument regardless if you agree with
\nhim\/her or not. Explain how the author uses his materials without
\ntelling me how you would use the same or different materials. Discuss
\nthe reading level without touting how smart you are or how stupid other
\nreaders might be. If you’re going to give a star rating you don’t do it
\non how close the book is to your point of view (5 stars meaning
\nperfect, just like me!).<\/p>\n

\nYou might look at this and wonder where it’s coming from. Honestly, it
\nstarted years ago in comic book stores. You would go into
\nthis dimly lit storefront in the search for the latest Spidey. In the
\nback there would be several guys of various sizes loudly discussing how Quasar is better than Green Lantern<\/a> or how
\nDC sinks Marvel’s battle ship anyday. They would fall into a hushed
\nreverential silence whenever a female would enter into the store, but
\nthen, in hopes of gaining her attention, they would increase the level
\nof their conversation talking about the merits of McFarlane’s art over
\nLarson’s. None of them could draw a straight line, and there they sat
\noffering their opinion while the unsatisfied potential customer
\nwould leave the store purchase-less and date-less.<\/p>\n

\nIf you review books—leave the comic book store mentality behind. It runs rampant in SciFi titles all the way over to Theological
\nJournals. Give me the reason the book stinks or soars without it having
\nanything to do with your positional stance on the topic. If you’re
\ngoing to say “Another kickin’ title by [theologian name]! Like all his
\nbooks, this is good! Buy now!” don’t bother—I’ve seen it before…be it
\nin 5 or 500 words, it’s still comic book store thinking.<\/p>\n

-r-
\nBTW, read that Green Lantern link over at MCF’s blog. He makes some
\ngreat points (even though Hal Jordan GL still beats Quasar because Hal
\nJordan is the man).
\n<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I can’t stand book reviews. Nah, that’s not right—I can’t stand personal book reviews. Wait, that’s not right either…I can’t stand personal book reviews which are so blindly biased that they ignore what the author is saying and think that a book is nightmarishly bad because they don’t agree with it. Okay, that sounds about […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nStinky Book Reviews - Rey Reynoso's Bible Archive<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/stinky-book-reviews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Stinky Book Reviews - Rey Reynoso's Bible Archive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I can’t stand book reviews. Nah, that’s not right—I can’t stand personal book reviews. Wait, that’s not right either…I can’t stand personal book reviews which are so blindly biased that they ignore what the author is saying and think that a book is nightmarishly bad because they don’t agree with it. Okay, that sounds about […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/stinky-book-reviews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rey Reynoso's Bible Archive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/reyreynoso\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/reyreynoso\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"-0001-11-30T00:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"rey\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"rey\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/biblearchive.com\\\/blog\\\/stinky-book-reviews\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/biblearchive.com\\\/blog\\\/stinky-book-reviews\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"rey\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/biblearchive.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e8c55a4aab6df13bed13eae5edfab9aa\"},\"headline\":\"Stinky Book Reviews\",\"datePublished\":\"-0001-11-30T00:00:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/biblearchive.com\\\/blog\\\/stinky-book-reviews\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":820,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/biblearchive.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e8c55a4aab6df13bed13eae5edfab9aa\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/biblearchive.com\\\/blog\\\/stinky-book-reviews\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/biblearchive.com\\\/blog\\\/stinky-book-reviews\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/biblearchive.com\\\/blog\\\/stinky-book-reviews\\\/\",\"name\":\"Stinky Book Reviews - Rey Reynoso's Bible Archive\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/biblearchive.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"-0001-11-30T00:00:00+00:00\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/biblearchive.com\\\/blog\\\/stinky-book-reviews\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/biblearchive.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/biblearchive.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Rey Reynoso and The Bible Archive\",\"description\":\"Notes and Thoughts from An Unabashedly Plymouth Brethren Blogger\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/biblearchive.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e8c55a4aab6df13bed13eae5edfab9aa\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/biblearchive.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/biblearchive.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e8c55a4aab6df13bed13eae5edfab9aa\",\"name\":\"rey\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/biblearchive.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2012\\\/03\\\/cropped-tba_banner.jpg?fit=1000%2C288&ssl=1\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/biblearchive.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2012\\\/03\\\/cropped-tba_banner.jpg?fit=1000%2C288&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/biblearchive.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2012\\\/03\\\/cropped-tba_banner.jpg?fit=1000%2C288&ssl=1\",\"width\":\"1000\",\"height\":\"288\",\"caption\":\"rey\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/biblearchive.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2012\\\/03\\\/cropped-tba_banner.jpg?fit=1000%2C288&ssl=1\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.biblearchive.com\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/reyreynoso\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/reybeez\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/biblearchive.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/biblerey\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Stinky Book Reviews - Rey Reynoso's Bible Archive","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/stinky-book-reviews\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Stinky Book Reviews - Rey Reynoso's Bible Archive","og_description":"I can’t stand book reviews. Nah, that’s not right—I can’t stand personal book reviews. Wait, that’s not right either…I can’t stand personal book reviews which are so blindly biased that they ignore what the author is saying and think that a book is nightmarishly bad because they don’t agree with it. Okay, that sounds about […]","og_url":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/stinky-book-reviews\/","og_site_name":"Rey Reynoso's Bible Archive","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/reyreynoso","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/reyreynoso","article_published_time":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00+00:00","author":"rey","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"rey","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/stinky-book-reviews\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/stinky-book-reviews\/"},"author":{"name":"rey","@id":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e8c55a4aab6df13bed13eae5edfab9aa"},"headline":"Stinky Book Reviews","datePublished":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/stinky-book-reviews\/"},"wordCount":820,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e8c55a4aab6df13bed13eae5edfab9aa"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/stinky-book-reviews\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/stinky-book-reviews\/","url":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/stinky-book-reviews\/","name":"Stinky Book Reviews - Rey Reynoso's Bible Archive","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00+00:00","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/stinky-book-reviews\/"]}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/","name":"Rey Reynoso and The Bible Archive","description":"Notes and Thoughts from An Unabashedly Plymouth Brethren Blogger","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e8c55a4aab6df13bed13eae5edfab9aa"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e8c55a4aab6df13bed13eae5edfab9aa","name":"rey","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/cropped-tba_banner.jpg?fit=1000%2C288&ssl=1","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/cropped-tba_banner.jpg?fit=1000%2C288&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/cropped-tba_banner.jpg?fit=1000%2C288&ssl=1","width":"1000","height":"288","caption":"rey"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/cropped-tba_banner.jpg?fit=1000%2C288&ssl=1"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.biblearchive.com","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/reyreynoso","https:\/\/x.com\/reybeez"],"url":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/author\/biblerey\/"}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbR50-76","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=440"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}