Why Book Reviews Deserve Respect: Dr. Steve Gump on Reading, Writing & Relishing

In this Business Talk episode, host Deepak Bhatt speaks with Dr. Steve Gump, Associate Director at the University of Virginia and author of How to Review Scholarly Books: Reading, Writing, Relishing (Princeton University Press, 2025), about the art and ethics of scholarly book reviewing. Dr. Gump argues that reviews should be written with the same joy and craft as literary criticism rather than treated as a dry academic obligation, a philosophy captured in the book's subtitle, "Relishing." He walks through the practical steps of reviewing (spotting a book, pitching an editor before writing, and reading like a reviewer rather than a student or researcher), and offers three guiding questions, "So what?", "What new questions has this raised?", and "What still lingers?", to move a review beyond mere summary. The conversation also covers his ethics of fairness ("never mean, never petty"), the distinction between peer review (gatekeeping) and book review (public commentary), and his push to integrate reviewing into graduate curricula. He closes with the "buddy log" idea from Jolie Jensen: reviews are the small logs that keep the fire of bigger scholarly projects burning, and every published author should aim to write as many reviews as they'd hope to receive. This podcast is brought to you by Global Management Consultancy. Disclaimer: 1. The background music incorporated in this video is the intellectual property of its respective developer and is protected under applicable copyright laws. Notwithstanding that it is a free-to-use version, Business Talk, Global Management Consultancy, and Deepak Bhatt do not own, and expressly do not claim, any rights, title, or interest in or to this music. 2. Dr. Steve Gump shared key insights from his book, “How to Review Scholarly Books: Reading, Writing, Relishing”, in an engaging episode of the Business Talk podcast. The uploaded video contains copyrighted content, so changing any graphics, music, or on-screen appearance of the author or host is not allowed.