What Do I Look for When I Buy a New Book?

I am occasionally asked what I look for when I evaluate new books to see whether I might want to buy them. I have a pretty well established routine that I follow.

The first thing that I do is to look at the bibliography. I want to know what sources that author has used in drawing his or her conclusions. Did the author use almost all secondary sources? Did the author use a mix of primary and secondary sources? Within the primary sources, what’s the mix of published vs. manuscript materials? The thing that I’m looking for most of all is whether the author has done his or her homework. That’s why I will not even purchase a new book if it doesn’t have a bibliography. That was the very first thing that I noticed about Carhart’s festering pile of crap. If the book passes that test, then we move to the next test.

I will then see what maps and illustrations are included. I’ve already made my thoughts on this particular topic known, and won’t repeat them here. What I look for here is: are there maps? If so, are they any good? And what illustrations has the author used? Any that are new or different? Or are the same old tired ones that everyone uses?

If the book passes the map/illustration test, then I look at the notes to see how they look. I look to see whether they’re clear and comprehensive and whether they’re useful to me as the reader. If they aren’t, then I’m done. If they are, then we go to the final test.

The final test is to pick a random passage and read it, and see how the prose/editing is. If it’s good, and all other tests have been passed, then it’s time to crack open my wallet. If not, then it goes back on the shelf, and I move on.

Of course, all of this can go right out the window if the book seems to be something that’s pertinent to my work and that I need for something I’m working on. When this little gem came out, I bought it immediately, sight unseen, because my book on East Cavalry Field was being copyedited, and I had to know whether I had been trumped. Fortunately, it turned out to be a waste of about $20, to my great relief, but this is a book that would not have made it past the very first test otherwise.

My point in all of this is that the decision to buy a book is usually one that I spend a fair amount of time and energy in making, and I almost never buy on the spur of the moment or on an impulse. There are times when that’s a good thing, but there are also times when it’s not.