A brief history of book reviews

Photius vs Socrates: Who wrote the first book review?

"When did book reviewing originate? The Bryn Mawr Classical Review carries a piece entitled On Reviewing Books in Classical Antiquity by Ralph Rosen in which Professor Rosen tells us that the invention has usually been attributed to Photius, the ninth-century patriarch of Constantinople, who wrote his Bibliotheca as “an offering and consolation to his brother Tarasius, a summary of books that he had read over a long period of time” — a summary yes, but of 279 books! However Professor Rosen himself attributes the invention to Socrates as recorded by Plato; he is caught in Phaedo trashing a book by Anaxagoras." -- Read more about the history of book reviewing at Making Book.

So it seems, the earliest recorded book review may date back to the 5th century—and it wasn’t exactly glowing. If you like, read an excerpt of Socrates' brutal review of Anaxagoras' book here, starting in paragraph 7. If you do, what do you think -- is it true that a bad review is better than no review?

Quotes about book reviews

"This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force."

― Dorothy Parker

"The covers of this book are too far apart."

― Ambrose Bierce

"But for my own part, if a book is well written, I always find it too short."

― Jane Austin

"Only bad books have good endings. If a book is any good, its ending is always bad - because you don't want the book to end."

― Pseudonymous Bosch, The Name of This Book Is Secret

Modern Book Reviews