Intro

Everybody says not to judge a book by its cover. If that's true, why then does so much effort go into making them? Why update the cover with a new edition of a book if the text within remains largely unchanged? Why do the covers of books from 1911 look so vastly different from the covers in 2011?

The truth is, the cover of a book tells a lot more about it than most people think it does. First and foremost it tells us the title (the importance of which would take up a whole new blog). It may also tell us the genre and style - an extravagant cover, peppered with intricately drawn dragons and swords and depth, might indicate epic fantasy. A more minimalistic cover, such as part of a person's face or some simple line drawings, might point to a more down-to-earth, realistic type book.

These are only examples, not guidelines. There are hundreds of millions of books in the world and several covers for almost all of them. No two will be exactly alike, even in books that are extraordinarily similar in theme and plot. That's what this blog is about - looking at book covers of dozens of different books and noting what makes them different, what makes them similar, and ultimately, what makes them good.


Each week there will be a new theme. Sometimes there will be three books. Sometimes five. Sometimes seven. It just depends on how many books fit that theme. The theme will change week to week, but the structure of the posts will not.

So hold onto your hats, idioms. We're going to judge books by their cover.