I am a former USAF pilot and later a working engineer. I review everything before buying or reading it, cars, books, tools, electronics, guns, you name it. It's just my nature.
Before electronic books, I always read the dust cover of hardbacks and the back cover summary of paperbacks. I do tend to love series of books, especially detective stories. It definitely cut down on books that were so bad I wanted to burn them. I can forgive a few technical errors, like calling a handgun a pistol on one page and a revolver on another, if the author can tell a good story. I also forgive spelling errors and the difference in English and American, which I rarely even notice.
On Amazon, the first thing I do for any shopping is check the reviews. If there are only a few, I don't trust them-they might be fixed. I scan a few 5-star reviews, and check the total percentage of 4 and 5-star reviews. I like this sum over 80%. Next, I read all the 1-stars and a few of the 2-stars. If the book seems really good, I add it to my wish list. As it percolates to the top of the list, I check the reviews again before I buy it. All this is excepted for my favorite authors, who I snap up quickly.
I guess I am fairly critical, since I have read most of my books 4 or 5 times. I'd rather read a good book again than read a poor new one. Thanks for listening.
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