Reviews of Books

Before and After Childbirth. Ante-Natal and Post-Natal Exercises. By Jane Madders, M.e.S.P., Dip.Phys.Ed. Pp. 31, with illustrations. 3s. Edinburgh and London: E. & S. Livingstone Ltd. 1955.Porphyrin Biosynthesis and Metabolism. By G. E. W. Wolstenholme, O.B.E., M.A., M.B., B.CH. and Elaine C. P. Millar, A.H.W.e., A.R.Le. Pp. 308 with 70 illustrations. 308. net. London: J. & A. Churchill Ltd. 1955.A Handbook of Operative Surgery. Surgery of the Stomach and Duodenum. Second Revised Edition. By Claude E. Welch. M.D., D.Se. (Hon.). Pp. 370, with 79 plates. 9.00. Chicago: The Year Book Publishers, Inc. 1955.

Reviews of Books

No Abstract

The Effect of Word of Mouth on Sales: Online Book Reviews

We examine the effect of consumer reviews on relative sales of books on Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com. We find that 1) reviews are overwhelmingly positive at both sites, but there are more reviews and longer reviews at Amazon.com, 2) an improvement in a book's reviews leads to an increase in relative sales at that site, and 3) the impact of 1-star reviews is greater than the impact of 5-star reviews. The results suggest that new forms of customer communication on the Internet have an important impact on customer behavior.

A Note on Reviews

This issue (January 1981) of Explorations In Ethnic Studies is the last in which book reviews will appear. ln March we will publish our first annual review supplement, Explorations in Sights and Sounds. Sights and Sounds will consist entirely of reviews and we plan to include non-print media such as records and films, as well as books, monographs, and new journals

Identifying Facets of Reader-Generated Online Reviews of Children’s Books Based on a Textual Analysis Approach

With the increasing popularity of social media, online reviews have become one of the primary information sources for book selection. Prior studies have analyzed online reviews, mostly in the domain of business. However, little research has examined the content of online book reviews of children’s books. Book reviews generated by book readers contain different aspects of information, such as opinions, feedback, or emotional responses, from the perspectives of readers. This study explores what aspects of the books are addressed in readers’ reviews, and then it intends to identify categorical features or facets of online book reviews of children’s books. We employed a textual analysis approach including the latent Dirichlet allocation topic modeling to analyze the content of book reviews. The results indicate that online book reviews exhibit different facets of the books, which can be used as access points by potential readers to help them select relevant books