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How useful is Bird by Bird?

the.writerthe.writer
edited April 2015 in Writing
I am thinking about buying a book called Bird by Bird by Ann Lamott by way of inspiration and motivation to get on with my writing but am not sure whether it would be useful or not.

Has anyone any views?

Comments

  • CarolCarol
    Some interesting reviews on Amazon, that might give you an idea if it is for you.

    http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bird-Instructions-Writing-Life/dp/0385480016/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1428080399&sr=1-1&keywords=bird+by+bird
  • ClaudiaClaudia
    edited April 2015


    Has anyone any views?

    When I look at reviews - whether it's books or trip advisor, or whatever, I always read the negative ones. I looked at the one and two star reviews on this book and based on them, I wouldn't buy it.
  • CarolCarol
    Looking at the reviews all together, it doesn't look like a book I'd consider buying.
  • the.writerthe.writer
    Carol
    thanks for your suggestion re the reviews on Amazon but following another post on this forum regarding to bought reviews, I felt a little wary about trusting some of them, hence my posting.

    Claudia/Carol
    thanks for your views.

    I look forward to hearing from others in the group.

    Kevin
  • BalazsBalazs
    I do three things before I buy a book:
    1. I read the content page
    2. I read the description
    3. I read the reviews, but not the five star ones as all they say is it's good. I read the one star ones as they usually give a detailed explanation.
    Five star reviews are quite misleading as people are stupid and they write reviews before trying the product. You quite often can read "It arrived quickly and it has a nice cover" as a review. And what about the content and the quality? I'm pissed of about the morons who write reviews like that.
  • danfangodanfango
    Have you looked at the 'Look Inside' feature on Amazon, the.writer? The sample pages are quite extensive, so there should be enough there to give you an idea of whether the book is the kind of thing you're looking for. Personally, it seems a bit rambling for my liking - the introduction is about 30 pages long!
  • the.writerthe.writer
    Balazs, thanks for your advice. I try to follow a similar process as you but am mindful of some of the sour grapes types of one star comments so I do tend to balance them with three and four star reviews.

    Danfango, I have used the Look inside feature where it is available but in some instances I have found that very little significant text is available to view or what you can see, doesn't necessarily reflect the rest of the book or the parts you are most interested in checking out, even for just a glimpse, are not available. It is still a nice feature though.
  • LizLiz
    Balazs, I would say that the 1 star reviews are often just as idiotic as any other review. If any review says 'the cover was good and it arrived quickly' then I would disregard it, if any review is badly spelled and has the 'feel' of a relative reviewing, I disregard it, I just read the ones that have a considered and clearly educated opinion.

    Judging by your criteria, no-one would ever buy my books as it only has 14, 5 star reviews.

    If you read them however every single one explains why they like the book in detail and gives a description.

    Another way of telling if it is someone who has nothing to do with the author is to read the reviews that are 'amazon Verified'. That means they bought the book through Amazon and are unlikely to have been given a review copy and a backhander.

    Writer, I have found the look inside feature is put there by the publisher and does give a good idea of what the book contains.

  • boredrobotsboredrobots
    I rarely read reviews for books, seems a bit pointless.

    There are millions of people out there that don't like horror, or chocolate, or movies, but I'll be damned if they can convince me to give them up! If a book sounds good to me then I'll read it, even if all reviews label it crap.

    Some of my favourite books/movies have mostly terrible reviews.
  • LizLiz
    Yes, I'd agree with you there. Sometimes I think all a review is for is to show how pretentious the movie reviewer is. I happen to prefer The Fifth Element to Schindler's List.
  • boredrobotsboredrobots
    Damn fine choice, Liz! :D
  • boredrobotsboredrobots
    image
  • LizLiz
    Wow!
  • the.writerthe.writer
    edited April 2015
    Well, I'm not usually very good at line-ups but at least I can tell which of the three isn't Liam Neeson or Bruce Willis.

    As for the value of reviews, I'm a sucker for a good cover - gets me almost every time unfortunately.
  • doradora
    edited April 2015
    I sometimes read a book if it's been reviewed by a writer I know and trust. I have bought books on recommendation in reviews by such writers.

    Otherwise I ignore Amazon reviews because sometimes they give too much away about the content of the item.
  • the.writerthe.writer
    Dora, you're right about some people giving too much away. I find it hard not to continue reading when someone decides to put "Spoiler Alert" before their revelation. I'm sure its the same psychology as saying "Don't Look" so we can't help but look.
  • heatherheather
    or 'Don't touch that - it's hot'
  • Phots MollPhots Moll
    'Wet paint' always gets me.

    A review on a blog I follow might tempt me to read a book - that's the same thing as a reccomendation from a friend really and I do take note of those.
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