This blog started as a podcast idea. I want to create a podcast where I interview readers of self-help, how-to and personal growth/development books. In each episode, I hope to interview a reader who is enthusiastic about the book and another reader who finds the book lacking. The last segment will include one of the readers reflecting on their experience with implementing a practice laid out in the book. Hence the name, “The Good, The Bad, The How-to”.
This idea was born out of some frustrations that I and other bibliophiles have when trying to find out whether a book is worth reading or not. It is really difficult to get to critical reviews of a book when searching online. All the positive reviews tend to filter to the top of the search (even in Good Reads). This is especially true when trying to buy books online via your local bookseller, and in particular Amazon. While it is easier to access negative reviews via a web browser, if you are viewing reviews on your Kindle, the glowing endorsements will definitely come up first.
Some of us also have a certain distrust of the enthusiastic reviews filtering to the top. For instance, Amazon Vine gives people free merchandise in exchange for reviewing products sold by Amazon. Publishers can do the same thing. So, how legit are the reviews that we are reading? There seems to be some conflict of interest at play. True, the internet has democratised citizen participation in journalism, but there is something to be said for the traditional critic whose job it was to comment weekly on cultural output for high-calibre print media, radio and television. That critic had the benefit of training, comparison and experience. So, not only do potential readers wonder about the validity of reviews they find online, the quality is often questionable. What gives the reviewer credibility to comment? We know nothing about these faceless reviewers. Can we trust what they have to say?
In addition, the “look inside” option or downloading a sample only gets you so far. With Self-help and how-to books, you want to look at more than just the table of contents and read the first chapter. You want to know whether the author has done their research and cites scientific studies. This we only discover by reviewing the notes and the references, neither of which are readily available electronically.
Restrictions on movement due to the coronavirus pandemic have just intensified these frustrations. Not only does is feel weird to wonder around a physical bookstore, but many books are not readily on the shelves because international shipping has also been impacted by the limited movement of transport carriers.