Many academics consider it a professional obligation to write reviews of new books in their field. The reviews are published in academic journals which are hidden behind firewalls, so that they can’t be read by the public. And because most academics don’t read journals in other disciplines, an interesting book with cross-disciplinary appeal can easily be overlooked.

This is a wasteful legacy from the dead-tree era, and the NRR aims to fix it. The NRR is accessible to everyone with a browser. More to the point, if you read a book and are curious what experts think about it, you can find an NRR review just by googling the book. Not only that, the review is likely to appear on the invaluable first page of the Google search results.

Take, for example, Michael Glennon’s new book, National Security and Double Government. This is a book that anyone might read. If you type “Glennon National Security Double Government” into Google, you’ll find the NRR review of it by Clifford Bob on the first page of the search results. You won’t find this review, which appeared in the academic journal Public Choice. Even if you do, you won’t be able to read it unless you belong to an academic institution with a site license or are willing to shell out $39.95 (!).

So if you see a book that you think the public should know about, would like to review it, and want people to be able to find and read your review, contact us.