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Karen S. Cook and John Hagan (Editors). Annual Review of Sociology, Volume 30. Palo Alto, CA: Annual Reviews, 2004, 606 pages, $74.00 hardcover.
When the book review editor at Personnel Psychology contacted me to provide a review of the Annual Review of Sociology (hereafter ARS), I initially chuckled, and after a moment's reflection seriously asked myself "Why would I agree to do this?" I found the request initially amusing because it seemed as though I had only just completed such a review. The question that followed, however, was more important to me-a question that others have found relevant as well (e.g., Fleenor [with Jones & Summers], 2004). As an untenured assistant professor, my general perception is that completing book reviews is not highly regarded among my colleagues as scholarly work and too often seems relegated to the realm of graduate student "opportunities" (e.g., see Rothman, 2005). This seems especially true when reviews are completed for journals outside our discipline. Given the fact that reviewing for Personnel Psychology seems to benefit me little in terms of what it means for my future promotion and tenure decisions, why would I agree to do it?
Like many others, I find it difficult to find time to read outside materials that are not directly related to my particular fields of interest (it goes without saying that it's also difficult to find time to read many of those materials even within my field of interest). My review of ARS last year was a golden opportunity to catch up on diverse elements of the current literature without a huge investment of time. And surprisingly, I found many of the articles to be excellent reads ("excellent read" defined as: (a) holding my interest; (b) taking away more than I came with; and, (c) presenting intellectual or empirical material that I'm likely to incorporate in my own scholarly work, be it teaching, research or general understanding of the world). Therefore, the opportunity to do book reviews, and to specifically review ARS, is for me...