An informative book review is one that summarizes a book succinctly and coherently. The report should not evaluate the book in any case. Your goal is simply to record as accurately as possible, and in as few words as possible, your understanding of what the author has written.
Below, we discuss what preparation needs to be done before writing the report. Preparation has to do mainly with how to read the book.
1. Determine the purpose of the authors
Every author writes a book for a reason, be it educational, historical/factual, fictional (entertainment), or any other category. In the case of fiction books, it is usually to shed new light on a topic, gather existing knowledge in a field, or propose a new theory.
Whatever the purpose, you must find out if you want to understand what guided the authors in the selection and arrangement of the material. For this task, the table of contents and the introduction are invaluable.
2. Read the book quickly
To prevent him from reading the book twice, he must read it first. A quick overview should show you what the author thinks is most important and what kind of evidence is being presented to support his or her suggestions.
This step replaces the initial reading because it allows you to understand where the book as a whole is going, therefore making it more understandable during the single actual reading.
3. Read the book carefully and take notes
Since you already know the relative importance that the author gives to certain ideas, it is the notes that you take while reading, and that at this stage are precise. You know what to choose, you leave out what is going nowhere or is a brief distraction, you have the confidence that you can anticipate what comes next.
When taking notes, it is preferred to condense ideas and not take them word for word or simply paraphrase them. Resisting the urge to quote will give you a firmer understanding of the material. You must force yourself to interpret and summarize. This is the main help in keeping your report concise.
Condensing the material as you read will ensure that your report is a true summary, not just a series of quotes and paraphrases.