They are not summaries of the book. To be sure, book reviews should give a very full sense of what the book is about to interested readers, but the point is
not to provide a summary of the book. (This point, and those to follow, will be illustrated by some book reviews that this assignment provides links to.)

Like other kinds of writing, book reviews are meant to engage the reader. This is typically done in the same way that other articles do so: by tying it to a
relevant quote, current event, non-obvious puzzle or problem, etc. 

Book reviews always address two main audiences: those who have not read the book, and those who have read the book. Both audiences should profit from
your review. Those who have not read the book should come away with a clear sense of what the book is about, and whether or not they would have an
interest in reading it themselves. Those who have read the book should come away with fresh insight or understanding of some aspect of the book that they
had perhaps not noticed: its relevance to current events, its identification of a heretofore neglected problem, its strengths or weaknesses with respect to its
discussion of its topic (or of the quality of the writing), or some other aspect of the book.

Book reviews are typically vehicles for discussing something of interest to the author of the review. So the point of a good book review is typically not to
merely provide a summary of the book (see point 1 above), but to use the book to think about some question, issue, or problem in the world that the author of
the review thinks is worth considering at some length. So books are things that we use to think with; book reviews should display the fruits of your thinking
with and about the book.

Book reviews can vary considerably in length, from a few short paragraphs to many pages. Your book review should be 4-5 pages.

While all book reviews do not incorporate the views of other reviewers into them, yours should do so! You should read 3-6 reviews of the book you are
reviewing, especially from major periodicals or academic journals (in the case of a book on accounting, for example, that might include reviews from the Wall
Street Journal, Times Literary Supplement, New York Review of Books, and one or more academic accounting journals.) At least some of the opinions of
these other reviewers should be quoted in your review, in order to demonstrate your familiarity with other informed readings of the book. (Again, this is not a
requirement for all book reviews; only for this particular assignment.)

In the end, a sensitive reader should come away from your book review not only with a sense of the substance and quality of the book, but also with a sense
of your skills as a writer: your ability to re-present the ideas of others clearly; your critical thinking and analytical ability; your ability to thoughtfully expand
upon a topic raised by the book; and/or your own stylistic skills as a writer.

Outside of the actual review, typically at the beginning, the complete publication information should be identified for the book you are reviewing: the author,
the publisher, the date of publication, and the number of pages of the book.