Kathryn: The book reviews on Amazon should be taken with a large helping of
salt. The temptation to post a flattering review of your friend’s, son’s,
wife’s or lover’s book is irresistible. Conversely with the temptation to
trash a book by someone you dislike for personal reasons. (Though Amazon is
in the business of selling books, so they are not going to let the
proportion of negative reviews rise too high.)
The sensible approach to evaluating the Amazon reviews is: (1) Ignore the
most flattering review — that’s the author’s mother. (2) Ignore the most
hostile review — that’s the last employee he fired. (3) Take an average of
the rest.
For the real skinny on book reviewing from a seasoned veteran, you should
read my “Straggler” column in the forthcoming NRODT.