"[3] The Times Literary Supplement wrote: "the monumental tedium of its narrative, its picayune Legoland quality, is the book's great strength.

"[5] Little Rock's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette wrote: "In Rationality and Power: Democracy in Practice, Bent Flyvbjerg employs a wide-ranging intellect, an enthusiastic and persuasive voice, academic rigor and great discipline to distill years of research into an outstanding and accessible 250-page civics lesson.

It begs for a readership outside academic and professional circles ... Flyvbjerg punctuates his narrative with a wonderfully dry sense of the ironic and the absurd.

He can be quietly devastating – even subtly prosecutorial – in exposing ... self-interest and hypocrisy ... Rationality and Power's value is undeniable as a handbook and forensic tool for anyone seeking a better understanding of and access to the democratic process."

Stewart Clegg commented that the book "exemplifies in many ways what is distinctive about Flyvbjerg’s work, as densely textured, ethnographically detailed, and theoretically acute".