Why do Ghanaians always refer to people as "towering", "distinguished", "world renowned", "world acclaimed", etc etc etc? Having started by raising the status of the writer so highly, is there any wonder that the reviewer has ... read full comment
Why do Ghanaians always refer to people as "towering", "distinguished", "world renowned", "world acclaimed", etc etc etc? Having started by raising the status of the writer so highly, is there any wonder that the reviewer has been unable to point out a single drawback or flaw in the book? The review is not analytical in any way. It seems the reviewer is so much in awe of the author that he dares not delve into any analysis of the subject matter.
IDRIS PACAS 9 years ago
The contents of this write-up are okay. However, the saying goes that coming events cast their shadows. The intimidating and jungled appearance of this write-up may well inform us of how the book really looks like. In fact, t ... read full comment
The contents of this write-up are okay. However, the saying goes that coming events cast their shadows. The intimidating and jungled appearance of this write-up may well inform us of how the book really looks like. In fact, the author of this write-up must learn how to paragraph his/her work to ghanaweb. This website hardly typeset documents received.
Good work next time!
Adam 9 years ago
Idris Pascal, the paragraphing is the least problematic about this work. You seem to be new to ghanaweb. All old ghanawebers know that the webmaster has no time to edit and format the articles he posts. They have learned to l ... read full comment
Idris Pascal, the paragraphing is the least problematic about this work. You seem to be new to ghanaweb. All old ghanawebers know that the webmaster has no time to edit and format the articles he posts. They have learned to live with that and see it as no problem. The old time contributors know how to space their paragraphs so that the piece will come out neatly on the site.
The problems with the piece are the "review" contents. This work is not a satisfactory review. In the first place, it spends too much time in telling us about the status of the author of the book. Koo Pia has also pointed out the same thing. The reader of the review will be interested in a more critical examination of the contents of the book not the emphasis being placed on the status of the writer. Prominent scholars can still write books that are not good enough.
Nobody refers to authors by their titles when their books are mentioned. The reviewer does NOT have to identify the book by the author's titles the way he does in introducing the book title. It will be enough for the reviewer to say somewhere in the body of the review that the writer is a Professor of so and so, if that has any bearing on a point he is making. Otherwise that is not even necessary. The book should talk for itself in a review.
A good review should tell us about the good (in this case new and innovating) ideas in the field. It should also tell us about whatever shortcomings, if any, there are in the book. It can be best done by somebody with a good knowledge in the field.
One of the poorest contributions to ghanaweb is in the field of book reviews. The few we get are very poorly written. The PhD holders who frequent here are more interested in petty and partisan political issues as well us ethnic concerns than in introducing good, or bad, but relevant books to ghanaweb readers. Okoampa Ahoofe says he's reviewed more than 500 books for a site but we've not seen a single one of those reviews on this site. Instead he's only talking about Akufo-Addo, Akyems, Ewes, Rawlings, Danquah, NPP, NDC. Bokor and Akadu too the same.
I have finished reading this review without even knowing the publishers of the book, the ISBN, the number of pages, the price, where I can readily obtain a copy or even the year of publication. Yet I am told a lot about the status of the writer as if that is a sure guarantee that the book will be good. And, Idris, you call this an okay review?
Idris, I have another issue with you. You write articles here which some of us spend a lot of time in reading and commenting profusely on, raising relevant questions where we can. But you refuse to join the discussion and add to, and explain, issues in your own articles. Yet you comment on other people's articles. Is that fair?
Koo Pia 9 years ago
"...Development in Unity Volume One is written by Daasebre Prof. (Emeritus) Oti Boateng, who is undoubtedly one of the towering African scholars recognized by the Distinguished Scholars of Africa with the Distinguished Fellow ... read full comment
"...Development in Unity Volume One is written by Daasebre Prof. (Emeritus) Oti Boateng, who is undoubtedly one of the towering African scholars recognized by the Distinguished Scholars of Africa with the Distinguished Fellow award and acknowledged as one of the greatest minds of the 21st century by the American Biographical Institute...."
This Dasebre Prof is self-adulating too much, which to me is a turn off. If the book is good why does it need all these pretentious adulation?
Let the readers, assuming it is a mainstream work buy the book and write reviews. Using titles is a relic of the old age. Now lets see the numbers....of sales or citations. Self promotion is good only to a certain extent. And then it becomes a TURN OFF.
Why do Ghanaians always refer to people as "towering", "distinguished", "world renowned", "world acclaimed", etc etc etc? Having started by raising the status of the writer so highly, is there any wonder that the reviewer has ...
read full comment
The contents of this write-up are okay. However, the saying goes that coming events cast their shadows. The intimidating and jungled appearance of this write-up may well inform us of how the book really looks like. In fact, t ...
read full comment
Idris Pascal, the paragraphing is the least problematic about this work. You seem to be new to ghanaweb. All old ghanawebers know that the webmaster has no time to edit and format the articles he posts. They have learned to l ...
read full comment
"...Development in Unity Volume One is written by Daasebre Prof. (Emeritus) Oti Boateng, who is undoubtedly one of the towering African scholars recognized by the Distinguished Scholars of Africa with the Distinguished Fellow ...
read full comment