I'm gonna be honest, when I was at the Champaign Public Library this summer, looking for books, I picked up a lot of them based on the cover. I didn’t end up checking out some of them because when I read the summaries I didn’t like them, but when I got home I was wondering why I picked up those books in the first place. There is a long answer and a short answer to this question; the long answer is that the covers were the first thing I saw, as well as the titles. How a book design looks is especially important because of the fact that it’s what people see first. This means that the cover needs to draw attention and visually persuade a person to pick it out from all the other books on the shelf. The short answer is that they looked cool so I grabbed them.
I’m aware that the phrase “Don’t judge a book by its cover” is a metaphor for not drawing final conclusions about how something or someone is going to be based on appearance. However, for a book, I believe that the amount of effort that goes into a cover shows the amount of consideration the author took for making sure that the book is eye-catching enough to be picked up. There might be an absolute literary masterpiece in the library, but if the cover is plain beige I'm not going to pick it up. It’s like if you go to buy a TV and they offer a really shiny one and a really dusty one. You would most likely pick the shiny one, even if the dusty one would have ended up lasting longer or have better quality.
Another important factor to any book cover is the title. An interesting title, especially one that may sound confusing at first, is absolutely perfect for a book, because it means that the person needs to read it in order to understand what you're talking about. Book covers are all about presentation. My personal process when I go to the library is first I look around, then I notice an interesting cover. After looking at it, I read the summary and maybe read the first few pages. If I like it, I check it out and lastly ask for a sticker from the librarian.
In the end, book covers matter a lot, because no matter what people say, it’s in our nature to judge something beforehand and decide if it’s good or bad for us. While choosing to check out a book isn’t a life or death kind of choice, it still reflects our need to be persuaded by how things look. Next time I go to the library, I will try to be a little more open minded about the covers, but can’t make any promises.
-Lucia
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ReplyDeleteI completely agree! I always check out books that look interesting, and this decision obviously requires me to judge a book by its cover. I tend to read books with detailed and beautiful cover art, since, like you said, they catch my attention more. I also find it interesting how you say that judging something before using it is in human nature, which makes me wonder if humans can ever not judge a book by its cover. Good job on your blog post!
Hi Lucia! Honestly while reading your blog post I sort of found the mental process similar to mine. Sometimes if a cover seems really unappealing I'll simply put the book back, but in some cases reading the back cover summary has really helped with making the decision do I check this out or not lol. Overall great post! (P.S that paleta payaso looks good)
ReplyDeleteI never thought how a book cover or a title could be the difference between choosing a book to read. I think the best way to select a book is to read the summary on the back.
ReplyDeleteI wholeheartedly agree with you! I genuinely can't remember the last time I didn't let a book's cover influence my deciding to read a book. I think that a cover is sometimes just as important as the book itself, since they're likely the very first thing noticed by a possible reader. Therefore, banal-looking covers persuade me into possibly setting down the book. I believe covers should be visual representations of books' contents/messages, whether they're plain or incredibly detailed, since it's sort of a book's way of expressing what may reside within the pages in a more subtle manner.
ReplyDeleteI agree! I've never understood the phrase "never judge a book by it's cover', because it's all but human nature to do so! Most books I read are a very specific genre, and if I don't see that reflected on the cover I doubt I'll end up reading it. It's so important!
ReplyDeleteI am 100% someone who picks up books based on their covers. I often need interesting art or an interesting title to actually be willing to read something. If something isn't pretty in some manner, no matter the genre, I don't usually read it. I think the phrase "never judge a book by it's cover" is a good one when talking about people, but books and other media are better without it.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you so much! I also have a problem of grabbing all the books with cool covers but then eventually having to put them back because the summary doesn't sound as interesting. Your comparison of the dusty and shiny tv was super helpful to my understanding. Nice blog post!
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