As a supervisor and trainer I approached the review of the book by Penny Henderson on Supervisor training: issues and approaches with interest, particularly since Henderson had co-ordinated the BACP supervision section for several years, producing an eclectic range of debates. Book reviews are a valued contribution to readers of Therapy Today; often they provide an aid to professional development. What are the functions of a book review?

As the reader I would like to hear enough about the text to give me a guide to its structure and content. What does the book attempt to do? And does it achieve its aim? I also want to know how the text will be of benefit to me, ie who the text is aimed at. There is, of course, a place for the reviewer’s own comments and opinions, but these should be secondary to the review; in this case I was left without any clear idea of the content and style of Henderson’s book.

I found the format of Michael Jacobs’ review very confusing. Jacobs constructs the review in relation to his experience and values as a trainer and author in the area of supervision. The whole review compares Henderson’s book with this experience. This produces a review that is almost entirely self-referential, and the reader struggles to determine what is actually in Henderson’s text, since all comments made are set against Jacobs’ frame of reference, which in itself is not clear. Even if it were apparent as to why such a comparison would be meaningful, this type of analysis would be better placed as a constructive critique in the supervision section of Therapy Today, not under the guise of a book review.

Lynda Burchell
Chartered Counselling Psychologist