BOOK UP YOUR IDEAS

'You can't tell a book by its cover' - oh really? The thing is, we still try to. And as for its spine...

We make a lot of judgements based on the covers of books, for better or worse. New books depends on their covers for impact and to set the tone, perhaps to manage the expectations of prospective buyers. But, of course, much of the time in book shops you can't see the cover, the only visible information being on the spine.

Overheard a conversation in a book shop specialising in old books, all about the quality of the decoration on the spines of books and thus how they would look on their book shelves. It was clear that the content was irrelevant.