Everything is a bit dull this morning, there’s not much sun, there’s too many clouds and I have about 200 emails to work through. BUT have no fear, Critical Publishing is here!
Start your Friday morning with a bit of light reading, here is an honest and interesting review of Tim Gully‘s book ‘The Critical Years’ by Everlyne, a social work student at the University of Hertfordshire.
My initial thoughts when I looked at the external presentation of the book were that the presentation of the book was attractive and the light colours drew attention to my eyes. The title was straight to the point and easy to understand. Already this was a positive thing and due to time constraints I was worried if I would have time to go through the book, but that worry quickly diminished as I felt the weight of the book and flicked through the pages. The book is very light, consisting of 102 pages and the words were of reasonable font size. At the back of the book there is a brief outline of what the book entailed and a brief history of the author. I appreciated that he stated his interest in this particular topic and knowing the link between his background and the book he chose to publish.
The introduction to the book did not really stand out as an introduction; it looked like it should have been one of the chapters. This is because the introduction was quite lengthy and it began with pointing out learning outcomes and critical questions which would have stood out more in one of the chapters. The author then went on to giving a brief background of him and his family which he further links to child development. From the start I noticed the language he used was very easy to understand and the paragraphing, spacing and font size is easy on the eye. Already the introduction had me captivated to keep reading and the only critique I can give was the lengthiness of it all. The author does make the reader aware that the book follows a simple structure, which is what was delivered within the book.
The book consists of 8 chapters and each chapter is directly linked to the last chapter as if the author was telling a story. Each chapter consists of learning outcomes, and critical questions at the beginning of each sub-heading of the chapter. I felt the critical questions would have been better situated at the end of each subheading and the critical reflection at the end of each chapter. I noticed the author put references at the end of each chapter which I found very helpful and makes it easy for one to refer back to the chapter and link the references if further reading is required.
Overall the contents of the subject were basic and easy to understand. I would use this book as a platform to gain some understanding in child development if the subject is new to me because it is clear, concise and simple to understand. The only suggestion I would make to the author would be to redirect the critical questions towards the end of each sub heading and minimise the introduction or make the introduction a chapter because that is how it comes across. Other than that it was straightforward, easy to grasp and time managing book and I would highly recommend it to anyone who is starting out in any field that entails child development or anyone who just wants to enhance their own knowledge and learn about child development.
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