How do you pick your books?

I have never done a book cover. Yet I often think about them. As a genre they have made me think about my book browsing patterns. And after reading seven books in a row from the same author and publisher I think about it more often.

I was doing some research for this topic and found some interesting article about book cover design. “Publishers think we're all mugs and, by and large, that's exactly what we are. We judge books by their covers. We know what to expect. The bookshop is almost color-coded to make selection easier”, writes Tom Dyckhoff in an article in The Guardian. May be that’s what I did in the library.

But what after that? You don’t just recognize a familiar book’s spine and put it in the bag. You carefully gaze the front cover for some clues, turn it over, read the blurb on the back and if you feel further curious then read the flaps. That’s what I normally do in case of books for casual reading. But when I intend to read book of theoretical value I go a step further and browse the whole Index for the relevant topics and also read the Preface and a bit of content to get a grip of the book before pocketing it in.

So, like Tom Dyckhoff says, most of the times I do act like a ‘mug’ and judge a book by its cover. And how do you pick your books? Do let me know.