Books reviewed on this website may be borrowed from the MS Society Library.

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To volunteer as a reviewer please contact the Information Centre.

Books are sent to the first replies and each reviewer gets to keep the book they review.  

Tips on writing reviews

There are three important parts to a book review:

The summary, evaluation and your personal opinion

Summary
When you summarize a book it can be useful to think about these questions:

• What is the subject of the book? Try to put it in the context of other books that have been written on the subject.
• What kind of material or research is the book based on?
• Who is the book written for – is it healthcare professionals, or the general public?

Evaluation
Your evaluation should cover how well the author has met their objectives:

• Does it deliver what the title promises?
• Is the book suitable for the readers it is aimed at?
• Why was the book written – what does the author want to achieve?
• How well does the book deal with the subject? Is it accurate? Are you aware of factual errors?
• Are there illustrations? An index? Bibliography? What other features does it have? Are they effective and useful?
• How clear is the book?

Personal opinion

• Is it useful and informative to read?
• Would you recommend it?
• What is your personal response to the book?

Finally, remember that whatever your own writing style, reviews on the web need to be easy to read for a wide audience. Often a less formal tone works best.

People like to read a balanced review, so it is good to include both the positive and the negative, but it is your view, as someone affected by MS, that they want to hear.