Rating: 
Summary: NO!
Review: Let's get one thing straight: Sociology is NOT a science. There is no such animal as a "social scientist". If this book makes any point at all, this is the point it makes (inadvertently, I'm sorry to have to report). The sociologist depicted herein gets paid to clip articles out of newspapers and collect them in a great heap (that her assistant is perfectly justified in tossing out). She is awarded a huge sum of money for discovering nothing whatsoever: everything she learns about "the bellwether" she learns directly from the woman who awards her the money. (I hope no one will complain I've given the ending away; anyone who can't see this coming a hundred pages away will forget everything I've written here immediately after reading it.) This book is not merely dull and insipid; it is also extremely tedious. We have to read "Why did flappers bob their hair?" over and over and over and over and over...
Rating:
Summary: corny and contrived and strained
Review: If you break down into convulsions of hysterical laughter whenever anyone makes a face or puts on a clown suit or whenever you hear a laugh track, I suppose you'll enjoy this. I prefer genuine humor myself. Though its intent is to show how superior it is to fads, it doesn't really understand what they are and it is itself very susceptible to insidious fads of language: I found one "hopefully" pretending to mean "I hope" ("hopefully" is really an ADVERB), two "oxymoron"s used incorrectly (an oxymoron is by definition not just any contradiction in terms, but a deliberate literary device), and one "just that" (a perfectly correct but obnoxious rhetorical mannerism prevalent in the eighties).
Rating: 
Summary: Uplifting
Review: This is the best of all Ms. Willis' books, in my opinion. Some of her stories leave me a little melancholy and wishing I could share a little hope with the author. This book, with its picture of *good* people *living* together, left me full of hope for us all. (I loaned it to a friend who's dad was dying to share the hopeful glow.) I love the nooks and crannies that she shows us in her character's personalities and wonderland she shows in every day life. This is not a science fiction book, but I put it right up there with Asimov, Robinson, and RAW (on a good day) for synchronicity, puns, fate, and purposefully making the best of what the universe hands you.
Rating:
Summary: NS seeking positive view of scientists
Review: This book was fun and I truly enjoyed the fads anecdotes. As a social scientist (in communications), I loved the portrayal of social science research, as well as Willis' understanding of the Eureka moment. It was so refreshing to see scientists and their work treated so well. This is the kind of book that needs to be written more often.
I find the argument that this is not science fiction intersting. Ultimately, if this is not science fiction, I don't care. I want more of it. As Carl Sagan asked, "What kind of a world is this where a large proportion of the country believes in transporters and phasers, yet cannot understand the laws of motion or the mechanics of photosynthesis?" (I paraphrase, but read his "The Demon-Haunted World" if you need the exact words). Even the portrayal of the 'geek' biologist was positive.
For the record - I hate to be around smoke (I have asthma), but I hate even more the cruelty I have seen against smokers. After they finish with the smokers, they'll be after the fat people and then we're all in trouble.
Rating: 
Summary: A Warm, Funny Salve For Annoying Cultural Excesses
Review: BELLWETHER was recommended to me a few years ago when the bureaucracy was too much with me late and soon. Since then, I've given copies to friends when they need comic relief from corporate culture or trendiness of any kind. This satire of contemporary manners is not searing and it will not solve a reader's own issues, but it is fun to watch Willis kickbox the major annoyances of our lives. That this is classified as science fiction is a stretch; it follows fictitious scientific research at a high tech firm in the present day without alien intervention, genetics gone mad, time travel or alternative history. So much is it in the present day that many of the over-the-top trends that the one scientist studies or is otherwise annoyed by are many of those we're still enduring or by now are waving, gratefully, good-bye. Think flavored coffee drinks and angels, name brand catalogue clothes and expensive ugly sandals. Lest we never forget, Barbie dolls. This wouldn't be Connie Willis without a Disney idea of an adult flirtation, but this time the characters aren't unduly sappy. I find it a little odd that Willis decides to illustrate her protagonist's good nature in rejecting the politically correct by subtly promoting smokers' rights. Smoking transcends the political despite the tobacco lobby--it is NOT a good choice no matter what and smoke-free workplaces and restaurants are examples of social progress in the very late 20th century. This book deserves three and a half stars, but since there are no "halvsies" allowed and since it is worth passing around, it gets 4.
Rating:
Summary: Satirical and fun
Review: "Bellwether" is a fun and frivolous read, but also quite engaging satire. Her characters are likeable and appealing. Not one of her more poignant novels (like Doomsday book), Willis nevertheless manages to convey some real emotion along with her commentary. I recommend it highly.
Rating:
Summary: A chaotic, sheep-laden event
Review: This novel was both hysterical and heart-felt - I found myself laughing out loud at the characters' predicaments, and then eagerly page-turning to find out how it would all end. A wonderful story - I'm off to discover Willis' other novels!
Rating:
Summary: A fun little book
Review: This was a very enjoyable story that didn't seem to take itself too seriously. It was a nice touch adding the little tidbits at the beginning of each chapter about various fads that have come and gone throughout history, though I did not always agree with her commentary about them. Her underlying message about how many people in our culture are unable to think with much originality and are not even aware of their predicament was well founded. As a school teacher I see this everyday in the microcosm of my classroom. Her portrayal of corporate mentality has a certain Dilbert-like quality to it that I'm afraid may not be as exaggerated as I hope it is. The only thing I found irksome - and this is a small quibble - It seemed that every waitress/waiter/and assistant she encountered rolled their eyes at the drop of a hat! I would be fuming if I ran into as many rude people as our intrepid scientist did.
Rating:
Summary: Dilbert meets Bridget Jones meets Einstein
Review: Bellwether combines the idiocy of office doublespeak with the absurdity of today's trend-following society while still expecting you to think. Our heroine studies fads, in the hope that she might discover how they start. She collaborates with a fellow scientist studying chaos theory who loses his funding. How do you combine fads and chaos theory? As the title tell you, by studying sheep - chaos and group behavior all rolled into one. The story isn't particularly complex, but the telling is interesting and entertaining. If you work in an office where giving something a name is more important than content, don't (care to) understand the difference between latte and cappuccino or wonder why the fashion world brought back the seventies, give this book a try.
Rating:
Summary: Better if you've worked with social scientists
Review: During the summer of 1960, I was assigned to assist a professor in the Social Psychology Department at the University of Missouri with a project on the grocery-buying habits of central Missouri housewives. That was in the days of punch cards and a big mainframe computer that occupied a room in the College of Business Administration that was about the size of the house I now live in. Willis' Bellwether is much more about the social sciences than it is about the physical sciences, which may be why some reviewers were unhappy with it. From the perspect of a social historian who works in a large bureaucracy, it comes through as an excellent satire.
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