Judging a Book by it’s Cover

There are few thing I enjoy more than an old adage. “A stitch in time saves nine”, is certainly an oldie and a goodie. “Actions speak louder than words.” Is a good one, especially if one is an action hero, which I am not, but if I ever get a super power, it will become my favorite. Then there is the famous, “All that glitters is not gold, though some of it is, other things that glitter could be silver or platinum, but does it really matter, as shinny things are very much overrated.” Ok, I may have taken some liberaties with that last one. The point is this, I like an old adage quite a lot. There is one, which I am sure you all know. “You can’t judge a book by it’s cover.” I am not sure if this one is true.

There have been many times where I have judged books by their cover. In fact, I often do. I like a book cover to be interesting. I appreciate good design for my book covers. So I am wondering out loud, which is strange, as I live alone, and that isn’t right at all. Have I ever thought a book would be good, based upon the cover, and been disappointed? Nothing comes to mind. What does come to mind, is the question, what is your point Brian?

This is my point. The other day, I received an email from a gentleman named Spike Carlsen. He has written a book, “A Splintered History of Wood”, and asked if I would be willing to give it a read and then review it for my readers. This was very exciting for me, as I love wood, books, and blogging. So it seemed like a great idea.

Yesterday the book arrived. The cover is really nicely done. In the interest of full disclosure, this isn’t the review. In fact, I just read the introduction and the first page, a few minutes ago. There are 389 more pages. I am very excited. So I guess this is more of a prereview, review, where I judge this book by it’s cover.

On a scale of 1 to 37, the standard ‘Meeks’ scale, (I created this several years ago and has had very little adoption by the general public), I would give the cover a solid 34. The introduction and first page are even better, but I will save that for the offical review. For now, I am just going to tease you with the thought of the review to come. Woodworking is great, and reading about wood is great too. Thanks Spike Carlsen for letting me read your book and give my thoughts on it. This is fun.

I would like to include a picture of the cover, but I feel I should ask permission, before I do this. So I will try to see if I can use a picture of the cover for the official review.