Don’t judge a book by its cover Comments Off

“Don’t judge a book by its cover”, that’s easy to say. And easy to do if you have a bookstore with 5 books in it. Add a few digits to that number and it’s not so easy to do anymore, is it? And that’s the story with most products we buy these days… So many types of the same product and not so much time.

There are a few privileged products, usually the expensive ones, like high-end phones, laptops, and other gadgets that force us to consider carefully our options, because of the risk of buying the wrong thing for a lot of money .

But what about products like wine? Go to your local supermarket and you will find row upon row of wine bottles averaging around 5-6 euro a bottle and from all around the world. If you’re not Gary Vay-ner-chuck, you’re in trouble.

But not me! I judge the book by the cover, in such situations! Take a look at some of the wines I have at home.

The first one in called Fat Bastard and has a hypo on it, the second is Lounge Dog and has a long dog who’s rear end extend all the way to the back label and the third is just colorful,

You can tell straight away how much I know about wine. One label is colorful and the other two are just funny. Actually the one with the dog is quite good. For me it’s hard to make a difference between wines and I can only judge with – I like it / I don’t like it. Hence the label is the only thing that guides me through the sea of wine. If it attracts my attention and what is written on it sounds good enough – there is a sale.

But this is not true just for wine, is it? Even books are the same. Go to your local store and look around. You will most likely pick up to browse through the books with the most interesting covers.

However, wine and books are the lucky ones because the content still matters! Think about the sea of products that are too dull to tell apart, like tomatoes in a supermarket (not a farmers market). It’s most likely you will pick up the ones that are most conveniently packed.

Hate it or not, I don’t believe there are too many people who don’t judge a book by its cover. Prove me wrong!

Thoughts about – In Praise of Slow (book) – thought #1 Sunrise and Clocks Comments Off

During the winter holidays I’ve started reading “In Praise of Slow: How a Worldwide Movement Is Challenging the Cult of Speed” * by Carl Honore. The book itself is well written but not a masterpiece. The ideas  Carl talks about are most likely not new to you (slow food, slow cities and so on). But it’s still an interesting read and something I would recommend for everybody to take a look at. There are many little things that you can take away from it.

Among the ones that stuck in my mind is something that has nothing to do with the subject of the book. It’s actually a fact. Here it goes. Have you ever thought why many battles or duels were held at sunrise, in the not-so-distant history of mankind? Well, if you think about it, when you have no clock you need some common, distinguishable moment of the day. And sunrise is one such moment. Cool fact, isn’t it?

Somewhat related to this is the idea that clocks can be oppressive. There is a story in the book about a fellow who became obsessed with his very precise clock. And this fellow calmed down a little when he changed that clock to an old wind-up clock. Armed with this small revelation I turned with the face to the wall a couple of clocks, in my house, that were really aggressive with their bright red numbers. And you know what? It has some effect. I always know the time but the red devilish glow of the clocks doesn’t haunt me so much anymore. Try it yourself! Put away some of the clocks you look at all the time and see what happens.

*The book has an Amazon affiliate link. So if you buy the book through the link in this post I’ll actually make my first cents with this blog :).