A review by writingmidnight96
Readings for Sociology by Garth Massey

Did not finish book. Stopped at 17%.

So, this book is quite literally not designed to be read cover to cover.  Its 51 chapters are largely excerpts or summations of larger text that a sociology can pick from to fit an introduction to sociology class. I read probably 15 chapters between 4 of the 6 sections  in such a class back in 2014, and for that purpose, I would give the book a 4/5 stars. But in rereading my college texts to decide if I still want to keep them, this is one that will be permanently leaving my shelves. It’s just not engaging to read front to back with each chapter ranging so widely in subject matter and most of the writers are very academic so the test itself isn’t the most engaging for a casual reader. I’d recommend looking up the chapter list and instead finding the merger text or books that most interest you rather than trying to read this book outside of class. 

That said, I very much appreciated only having to buy one book in my intro to sociology class and the lengths of the chapters mean that they do do an excellent job of their actual function: to be read as brief introductions and conversation starters around broad sociological concepts like ethics and intercultural relations. I would recommend this book as a sociology primer so don’t knock it if it’s been assigned reading in class.