Course Here
January 29, 2013
Don’t Judge a Book by its Cover: How to Find a Good Book
Retailers like Barnes & Noble and Borders carry hundreds of thousands of books tailored to the reading preferences of their millions of customers, but finding a good book can still be a very difficult task to accomplish.
The first plan of attack should be a self-diagnosis; the reader should analyze themselves and their current literature collections and become aware of the styles of writings they prefer. Some readers enjoy classic works that talk of carriages, petticoats and pomade while others live through the characters in science fiction novels that battle supernatural creations, extraterrestrial species and improbable situations. Once a general theme to the collection has been declared, the reader has a good starting point for finding a good book, and can head out comfortably to their local retail book stores.
When first walking into these retail stores, the first hazard that presents itself is the seemingly tactful placement of featured books from seemingly well-known authors; in reality, these are placed in such a fashion just so that the customer picks up the new release books that are higher priced in order to make a better profit from the sale. Often times, good books between the statuses of new release and classic are much lower priced but still just as fun to read. Some authors create only one work of literature every year and others only one in their lifetime, and these awesome experiences can be bypassed simply by only purchasing books written by an author that is widely known.
Once reaching the section in the store that houses your declared genre of works, another battle must occur; while the instant reaction is to skim the shelves and see just which books visually distinguish themselves, the colors, fonts and designs of the covers are created by graphic designers that have no involvement in the actual content of the books that they are paid to wrap interesting designs around. Some of the most mentally stimulating books have simple cover designs and should not be overlooked for that reason. Just at first glance, a book printed on a black spine in gray letters reading the author’s name and the title could be just another boring book. Even if you picked up that novel with the lackluster spine, you might see that its cover bears something as simple as a magnified image of the knot of a gentleman’s necktie. While Mrs. E. L. James was an avid blogger before her big claim to fame, the author to the controversial “Fifty Shades” series of books explicating the tale of a wanton CEO who passionately participated in a whips-and-chains, power-hungry, sadistic relationship with