Sociology : A Down-to-Earth Approach (7th Edition)

Rating:
Summary: Interesting and Lively
Review: Admittedly I haven't read a lot of sociology textbooks, but this one is quite good. Every chapter has real-life examples (and many of the author's own experiences), so it not only makes you know the theory but also feel it at work in our societies, although the author writes quite a lot of his own feelings (it's dead obvious that he wants to change the world), which I don't know if it's a good point or not.

Rating:
Summary: great
Review: Excellent service. Book was shipped same day and I received it 2 days later.

Rating:
Summary: Badly organized and badly written.
Review: The thing that stands out from the beginning is that the author writes rather informally, and rather badly. Instead of writing from an objective, third-person perspective, the book feels like it's narrated in a circumlocutious, annoying manner. He makes "jokes" that fall flat, and tries to impose his own viewpoint on the reader.

The book covers the sociological theories scantily. Structual-functionalism, conflict-theory, and symbolic interactionism are hardly ever referred to after the first few chapters. Instead, the author gives weak overviews of political systems, economic systems, and corporate structure.

Bad writing and bad organization makes this an overall bad textbook. However, that doesn't mean Sociology isn't worth taking - hopefully your Prof explains the things that this book leaves out. I wouldn't use this book for self-study, but if you can't find alternatives, it's better than spending the money on movies, I guess.