An Appeal: Please don't review books you haven't read.

Title. I think this should go without saying, but if one visits logos.com, it's clear for many that it's not the case.

I have raised this issue before. Reviews are an important contribution to an ebook site like logos.com; they can help customers in making purchasing decisions. They are useful, however, only when they are honest. When they are used to make attacks on what they guess a book is about or as a soapbox to promote a certain agenda, they are misleading at best and skew the ratings. In extreme cases, I think they should be taken down.

A less harmful example is the habit some people have of rating a book 5 stars simply because it was a free book of the month. I observed this once on an 800 page book of very dry theology. It was one 5 star review after another with no comments. I know all these people did not read it. I barely got through the book myself (and I have read the entirety of Barth's Church Dogmatics; this particular work was more of a slog) and couldn't give it 5. While nice, don't do that. It is misleading. Not particularly harmful in this case but still misleading.

A worse case is with this recently released book. It's a nice book and a good read. I wanted to review it and saw there were a number of reviews already up. Most obviously have not read it yet; some even went up while the book was still on prepub. Most were attacking the book based on what they thought it was going to say. Many were confused thinking it was polemical theology when it is actually a history book. These reviews are harmful and misleading and, in my opinion, should be taken down.

So, I have an appeal and a question. First, please do not review books you have not read. Comment on reviews, sure, but don't review and skew the ratings on what you think a book is going to be like.

Second, a question: is it appropriate to report and ask for the removal of misleading reviews? I would think it should be all right but would like it if some FL staff or MVPs could clarify.

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MJ. Smith

Second, a question: is it appropriate to report and ask for the removal of misleading reviews? I would think it should be all right but would like it if some FL staff or MVPs could clarify

I think (guess) the flag function is to allow use to tell Logos "this ain't no review". You might also want to ask that people who have read the book, provide a review not a polemic/apologetic.

Gregory Lawhorn

Most obviously have not read it yet; some even went up while the book was still on prepub.

It's possible that some have read the print version, which (according to Amazon) was released in early May. In any case, the fact that someone has a very different opinion on a book doesn't mean that their review is misleading or false.

Lew Worthington

I see what you are saying. I decided long ago to make no buying decision based on user reviews here because so many of them focus on the perspective of the book or book title rather than the book. (Though some of the reviews are entertaining.) It's analogous to Amazon reviews that slam a product because the delivery was made at a bad time.

I don't have much optimism that your plea will change habits of reviewers with theological axes to grind. But who knows?

scooter

Peer reviews are very important to me. I always read them on the book page.

Logos has lately put quotes from the book in place of peer reviews for some volumes.

This past week, I saw a book page include what seemed to be peer reviews, but the names of the reviewer was left out.

I glean much insight from properly attributed peer reviews, giving, in my opinion, a better review experience.

Sean

Most obviously have not read it yet; some even went up while the book was still on prepub.

It's possible that some have read the print version, which (according to Amazon) was released in early May. In any case, the fact that someone has a very different opinion on a book doesn't mean that their review is misleading or false.

You can tell from the content of the review, when they say that they're dismissing it from the title, when they're reacting to the vocabulary of the blurb and not the author, or when it's clear that they don't know the actual content or perspective or even the genre of the book. And, for this one, several reviews predate the Amazon release date. And no, they were not scholars given an early copy for peer review.

Sometimes the benefit of the doubt really isn't warranted.

JT (alabama24)

Here is my review:

⭐️⭐️⭐️

The book arrived on time as expected. I bought this for my son in law who likes the author.
EDIT: I gave the book to my SIL at his birthday party. He already had the book. I removed two stars from my rating.

Frank Hodges

Here is my review:

⭐️⭐️⭐️

The book arrived on time as expected. I bought this for my son in law who likes the author.
EDIT: I gave the book to my SIL at his birthday party. He already had the book. I removed two stars from my rating.

The removal of the two stars is fair. Seller should have known that your son-in-law already has the book in his purchase history and should have notified you prior to purchase.

I would personally remove another two stars because the seller refused a 90% discount on the book when I explained the situation. Seller even had the audacity to request that I SEND THE BOOK BACK for a refund!!!

DMB

Second, a question: is it appropriate to report and ask for the removal of misleading reviews? I would think it should be all right but would like it if some FL staff or MVPs could clarify.

I'd think if the review is obnoxious, especially to the author, reporting is in order. But pulling a review that's not up to par, is bad business for Faithlife (or Logos, as the case may be).

John

They are useful, however, only when they are honest. When they are used to make attacks on what they guess a book is about or as a soapbox to promote a certain agenda, they are misleading at best and skew the ratings. In extreme cases, I think they should be taken down.

I always read the negative reviews first (on Amazon). You can tell a lot about a book by those who are attacking it. Then I read the most positive reviews, which on Amazon are likely to be paid reviewers.

I could wish that all biased and paid reviews did not exist, but then there might not be any left [;)]

Brad

...please do not review books you have not read...

I hear you, Sean. But that may be as realistic as asking our legislators not to vote on bills they have not read. [;)]

You raise a good point that underscores the reality that "common sense is not so common."

Sean

I always read the negative reviews first (on Amazon). You can tell a lot about a book by those who are attacking it. Then I read the most positive reviews, which on Amazon are likely to be paid reviewers.

I could wish that all biased and paid reviews did not exist, but then there might not be any left

I don't mind negative reviews; I've left them myself. I mind negative reviews (and, to a slightly lesser extent, positive ones) where it's obvious they haven't read the book or have wildly mischaracterized its content. E.g, the book is something like, "An Annotated Guide to the Works of J.R.R. Tolkien," and the review is, "It's so obnoxious to include a British author here considering what they did during the revolutionary war! One star!" or "I followed all the author's instructions to the letter and my souffle burnt and all my house plants died! One star!"

Jerome Smith

I finished reading the book in question today. I was motivated to read this book because of what I read in this discussion.

I thoroughly disagreed with the author's theological position but thoroughly enjoyed his detailed presentation of the history of Dispensationalism.

The author barely mentions George N. H. Peters twice in the book and lists him just once in the index. Had the author given as much attention to Peter's work, The Theocratic Kingdom, as he did to Philip Mauro, his account would have been even more accurate historically. Even so, the author has been very fair and objective.

I would give it four stars.

Liam

Sean I agree. I don’t understand how people can review anything they haven’t read. Seems like common sense. But apparently not. I would suggest a prompt that asks if the reviewer has read the book.. but that would probably also get annoying for normal reviewers who would have one more hoop to jump through…

JBR

Seems like common sense.

The least common of all the senses is ...

... Common Sense!

DAL

Seems like some like to give 5 stars because their professor recommended the book or they give bad reviews because the only thing they know about the book is that it doesn’t agree with their theology 😂😂😂

DAL

EastTN

Sometimes negative reviews can be as helpful as positive reviews, if they're well written. I also don't mind reviews that disagree with the premise or arguments of a book if they're well written. Sometimes there are things that are helpful to know when you're considering a book. I remember one book in particular (dead tree version) that I found incredibly helpful, but also very frustrating. It went through an exhaustive analysis of everything the Old Testament said about marriage and divorce, including the rabbinic discussion of those laws, and then went through an exhaustive analysis of the New Testament material on the topic, again in the context of Greco-Roman law. This was all very laid out and thought provoking. Then the author added a final chapter on "pastoral considerations" that felt like a total non-sequitur. It essentially said, "that was then, this is now, so just do what you think best." It was so unconnected to the rest of the book that I was left wondering why the author bothered to do the research. In retrospect, I would still buy the book - the scriptural analysis really is quite good. But I wouldn't have gone into it expecting the author to address contemporary concerns.

David McClister

... an 800 page book of very dry theology.

I would offer that "dry" is not a legitimate criticism of a book, since that is a subjective judgment. It would be equally unfair, or misleading, to rate a book low because of "dryness" as it would be to rate a book highly because it was free, would it not?

EastTN

... an 800 page book of very dry theology.

I would offer that "dry" is not a legitimate criticism of a book, since that is a subjective judgment. It would be equally unfair, or misleading, to rate a book low because of "dryness" as it would be to rate a book highly because it was free, would it not?

My sense is that "dry" is often used as a synonym for "difficult to read" or "inapproachable" or sometimes "lacking in real world relevance." That is in the eye of the beholder, but I don't think it's inherently any less fair than rating a book highly because it's "very readable" or "easily accessible to the average reader" or "directly relevant to the challenges we face in our day-to-day lives." Ideally, of course, a good review will clarify which of these problems makes the book "dry" in the eyes of the reviewer.

Beloved Amodeo

This may not meet with every ones approval, but Logos could establish an Amazon-like practice of linking to a review page once the end of the book has been reached.

This of course would not prevent cheating, but at least it would encourage actually interacting with the book before writing a review. I didn't read all of the posts in this thread so this suggestion may already have been offered. I apologize if this is the case.[:)]