This is mostly a reminder to myself
Aug. 21st, 2006 05:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sniffnoyThis is something I think I have noticed several times before, and yet I always seem to forget it when it would be useful.
Namely, a quick way to identify bad books by good authors: Check the praise on the back. If it's for the authors rather than the book, or for some completely different book by the same authors, you can probably just put it back on the shelf. [Exception: Praise for other books in the same series is OK.]
For instance, The Burning City[0]. Yes, I know Niven and Pournelle are great writers. Yes, I loved Footfall. That's great. But how's The Burning City? The book jacket is suspiciously silent. Now if only I had noticed that before I started reading it...
Now the problem becomes actually remembering this when I'm at the library...
-Sniffnoy
Namely, a quick way to identify bad books by good authors: Check the praise on the back. If it's for the authors rather than the book, or for some completely different book by the same authors, you can probably just put it back on the shelf. [Exception: Praise for other books in the same series is OK.]
For instance, The Burning City[0]. Yes, I know Niven and Pournelle are great writers. Yes, I loved Footfall. That's great. But how's The Burning City? The book jacket is suspiciously silent. Now if only I had noticed that before I started reading it...
Now the problem becomes actually remembering this when I'm at the library...
-Sniffnoy
