5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Rather Dull Book, December 5, 2009
This review is from: Sociology (Sociology (McGraw-Hill)) (Hardcover)
First off I'd like to agree with all the other individuals that made a comment about how Amazon is a great place to shop. I've had a lot of positive stories with them.
That being said, I don't feel like this book was very good. I'm not a Sociology major by any means, but I felt that too much of the book was spent saying the same thing over and over again. For example, in most chapters there would be a point where the author would break down the subject at hand into the three major perspectives: functionalist, conflict, and interactionist. In almost every chapter the author repeats himself that the interactionist perspective cares about how the subject affects our daily lives. Now, this is essentially what the interactionist perspective is all about, but I don't see the need to be reminded of that with two paragraphs every chapter. I don't feel like the author really makes good use of the reader's time, and feel like this book could be tightened up a little bit and get the reader straight to the good stuff. Among the I really enjoyed about the book were the examples; the author brought the theories to life quite well a number of times, but you need to surf through a sea of trivial text to find them.
Another thing I would like to note about this book is the fact that a lot of it is written with an opinion and lacks scientific neutrality. Some of the statistics are questionable in regards to validity and reliability. One thing the author fail to recognize is the fact that statistics are extremely skewed if you have an uneven or biased sample group (as is typically the case with surveys), and will follow a normal distribution in variance, meaning that it is normal for the results this year to fluctuate with the results next year. This fact makes me weary of examples where the author compares a small number of sample statistics, say unemployment rates.
All in all, this book has too much fluff and not enough peanut butter (if you catch my drift).
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great, Fast and No Issues, December 21, 2011
The item was exactly as explained. They were fast for delivery and had no issues with anything. Thank you for providing a great discounted price opposed to buying the books new and spending a fortune.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
soc book, November 14, 2011
this book is in great shape. no markings or cover abnormalities. and i like how i can sell it back at the end of the semester
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No