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A Good Book, in Theory: A Guide to Theoretical Thinking. Alan Sears. Peterborough, Ontario: Broadview Press. 2005. 174 pages. $19.95.
As many college instructors know all too well, a good book in theory is often hard to find. Begin talking about theory in either a lower or upper division class and watch as your students' eyes start glazing over. Assign original readings of founding theorists and come to learn, after the first attempt at discussion, that the readings have gone unread, or half-read, or, at best, fully read but half-understood. Guide your students to secondary source readings that purport to explain the original readings and find that these are often just as convoluted and long-winded as the primary sources. So how, then, does one cut through the jargon and communicate to today's students in a user-friendly manner what theory is and why theory matters? How does one get them to want to learn even more about what theorists, writing generations ago, have to say about today's times and today's world?
This is the daunting task that Alan Sears admirably tackles in A Good Book, in Theory: A Guide to Theoretical Thinking. Writing in a lively, mostly conversational style that today's students can relate to and make sense of, Sears offers an outstanding primer on the value of theoretical thinking in everyday life. Exploring a wide array of topics ranging from the "nature" of human nature, to the social construction of reality, to the...