When it comes to book reviewing, perhaps the cardinal error is telling the book reviewer how to review a book. Reviewers need the undisputed freedom to like or dislike a work and to say why. But maybe readers also have the freedom to dispute the reviewers. In this infor-mal essay, John H. Timmerman speculates on what may be some of the chief crimes of re-viewers and also on what guidelines might pertain to the art of reviewing. Mr. Timmerman is Professor of English at Calvin College and former editor of Christianity and Literature.