While I found certain chapters of the book incredibly useful and relevant, I had a difficult time working through the more technical jargon included in the text. Prior to reading this text, I was not familiar with the term “critical making,” so the different ways it’s incorporated into the text required additional research. Before jumping head first into this text, I advise readers, especially new scholars in the field of rhetoric, to read Shannon Butts’ (University of Florida) Definition and Background of Critical Making. While the text does provide background on critical making in its introduction, I found Butts’ definition easier to comprehend.
Overall, I think this text could be useful to rhetoric scholars and instructors. However, because of its organization, those wanting to use it would need to look for relevant chapters, sections, keywords, and/or phrases in the text’s index, as it is not designed to be read cover to cover.