Books

The cover of a book is very important. It is what convinces a person to look into whether or not they want to spend their time reading it.

The ADD generation doesn't want to sit there and read the inside flap about what the books about, for a couple of reasons. 1) It's long and boring. 2) They rather just read the book. 3) They don't have the attention span to read about the book, but they do have the attention span to read the book (unless it's assigned reading.) 3) They have an annoying habit of giving away too much of the plot. (I want to actually read the book, not have you tell me the story. I have enough friends that do that for me.)

Bearing all that in mind, the cover is horribly important. i.e. If the title of the book is "Man Hunt" there are a few different options of what it could be about. If Osama Bin Laden's on the cover, it's nonfiction book about finding and killing the fellow. If there's a police line, it's a mystery. If there's a heart with magnifying glass (or a cute looking couple), it's a romantic comedy. If there is an illustrated picture of a shirtless well built man, then it's a romance novel.

The cover of a book is very useful. The cliche of don't judge a book by it's cover is only partially true. The cover provides a lot of helpful information. The title, the genre, and the author. The cover's not always a good indicator of whether or not the book is good, but there are plenty of clues. Most notably would be the author. There are certain authors who have great books then there are those to avoid.

If it's by Stephanie Meyer, just walk away from the book. Whatever you do, DON'T READ IT! If you do, one of three things will happen. 1. You'll read the book, become an obsessive fan and .... off normal people all across America. 2. You'll read the book, you'll throw the book across the room, find matches, burn the book, and be the cause of the next wildfire. 3. You'll read the book, your mind will explode, you'll turn into a zombie, and you'll eat the faces of your family, causing the zombie apocalypse.

If it's by Dean Koontz, there is only one thing that will happen. You'll read one of his good books. (Only two that I know of, Odd Thomas and Life Expectancy.) You'll like that book except for one (or two useless chapters that have nothing to do with the story. You'll think, I wonder how his other books are. You'll read the sequels to the book and pretend that they don't exist because they turn the original characters into someone you hope gets killed off. You'll then give him one more chance and read another of his books. This book will either be the other good book or one of the many that totally suck. If it's the other good book, you'll prolong the inevitable. You'll avoid sequels and move on to reading some of his other stuff. You'll read one more novel that will be so horribly predictable you can't even hear the title without cringing. After that last novel, you will forever have to fight the urge to find Dean Koontz and drive over him repeatedly with trucks, cars, wagons, and donkeys. If you're a glutton for punishment you will maybe try and find another good novel. This is like trying to find a needle in a hay stack and is in fact just as painful as that cliche.   

While we're not supposed to judge books on appearances (nor should we people), the information that is generously provided for you and is in no way hidden is a good indicator of how your time will be spent.