I actually find them interesting for nonfiction - not necessarily because any particular review's useful, but because if something gets a decent amount of attention I can get a feel for the contents based on what people are reacting to. (The example I keep coming back to with history books is that a flood of outraged Turkish one-star reviews is a sure sign the author talks about the Armenians, and does so in a particular way.)
If something's got one or two dozen reviews it can be enough to get an idea of what the author's writing about and from what stance before actually looking into it. Less reliable than reading the book itself, but if I'm on the fence about whether I want to look at something that can tip it one way or another.
Yeah, the one star reviews for The Rape of Nanking (the Imperial Japanese Army never raped anyone!) and Helter Skelter (Tex Watson and Susan Adkins were the masterminds, and Bugliosi framed Charlie and made up the Helter Skelter stuff because he couldn't find a motive!) are hilarious in their way.
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Re: Really?
If something's got one or two dozen reviews it can be enough to get an idea of what the author's writing about and from what stance before actually looking into it. Less reliable than reading the book itself, but if I'm on the fence about whether I want to look at something that can tip it one way or another.
Re: Really?