Mills.Multics@HIS-PHOENIX-MULTICS.ARPA (05/29/85)
From: Mills@HIS-PHOENIX-MULTICS.ARPA I am also annoyed at just how much of a storie a cover blurb aften gives away. My solution is to take advantage of my unperfect memory by buying the book, but not reading it until I have forgotten what it is about. This also helps to maintain a supply and avoid running out of entertainment reading. John Mills
davidl@teklds.UUCP (David Levine) (01/22/86)
Anne McCaffrey said it best: "Back cover blurb writers have only two goals
in life. The first is to give everything away. The second is to get it all
wrong!" This statement pretty much sums up my opinion of back cover blurbs.
I generally try to avoid reading the back cover until after I've finished the
book; I rely on reviews (especially reviews in net.sf-lovers and net.books)
for information about books I'm considering purchasing.
That's why I'm disappointed and chagrined to find several recent reviews in
net.sf-lovers that begin with the back cover blurb, verbatim. I could
understand it if the reviewer feels that the blurb sums up the book better
than he or she could, but in some of these the reviewer follows the quote of
the blurb with something like "As usual, the jacket description is rather
overblown and misleading." If this is the case, why include the blurb as the
first screen or more of the review?
I don't recall whether it's one particular reviewer that's doing this, or
several different ones. I just wish {he,she,they} would stop. Just review
the book, please, and if we want to read the back cover we can do it in the
bookstore or library.
I hope that this doesn't lead to any flames. Help keep sf-lovers civil!
David D. Levine (...{decvax,ihnp4,hplabs}!tektronix!teklds!davidl) [UUCP]
(davidl%teklds%tektronix@csnet-relay.arpa) [ARPA]