Magonia 71, June 2000
As a useful defence mechanism against madness, non-fictional book reviewers employ a few shortcuts before deciding how much of their precious time should be spent slogging through hefty tomes which turn out to be largely worthless. If say the index of a guide to English Literature turns out to have seven references to Enid Blyton, five to Jeffrey Archer, and one each to Shakespeare, Dickens and Thackeray, they may be forgiven for suspecting that no more than a hour of time and two inches of column type need be dedicated to their task. 