The number of reviews published, their authors and where they appear will tell you a lot about the life of a book, its importance to the field and the reactions to its publication. Reviews are indexed in electronic databases and in print indexes. Most reviews appear within a year of publication but scholarly reviews may appear as late a 2 or 3 years after publication. Early reviews, usually short and strictly descriptive are intended to provide a description of the book for libraries and booksellers. These reviews appear in publications such as Publisher's Weekly and Library Journal , Choice .
Critical reviews are more interesting.
They are usually longer and provide a discussion of the book's arguments. Critical reviews also appear in The New York Review of Books and the New York Times Book Reviews . Reviews published since the late to mid-80's can usually be located by using an electronic index. For older reviews you need to use printed resources such as the Book Review Index or the New York Times index . Multidisciplinary academic databases such as the Expanded Academic Index include reviews for academic and general interest books.