Fed up with samples that don't contain anything useful

[Andrew H.]

I've had the same problem that Mike has had. IME, the issue arises more with "classic" books, and the introductory review is not a book review as much as it is something of an essay - a scholarly discussion of the history and impact of the book. If you buy a Penguin paperback of, say, a book by Jane Austen, you'll often get a somewhat interesting essay written by a professor at Oxford or Cambridge talking about the history of the work, a little about Jane, and how the book was reviewed. But more recent classics will have something similar as well - things like "Catcher in the Rye," "Catch 22", "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" ... okay, I've run out of "cat" works.

I like these, and sometimes they're pretty interesting...but they're not what I want when I want a sample of the book.

[Fluribus]

Originally Posted by Andrew H.

I've had the same problem that Mike has had. IME, the issue arises more with "classic" books, and the introductory review is not a book review as much as it is something of an essay - a scholarly discussion of the history and impact of the book. If you buy a Penguin paperback of, say, a book by Jane Austen, you'll often get a somewhat interesting essay written by a professor at Oxford or Cambridge talking about the history of the work, a little about Jane, and how the book was reviewed. But more recent classics will have something similar as well - things like "Catcher in the Rye," "Catch 22", "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" ... okay, I've run out of "cat" works.

I like these, and sometimes they're pretty interesting...but they're not what I want when I want a sample of the book.

This is especially a problem with poetry. Bad formatting can harm any book, but it kills poetry. I need to see at least one page before I will buy.

[Mike L]

Originally Posted by Andrew H.

... the issue arises more with "classic" books, and the introductory review is not a book review as much as it is something of an essay - a scholarly discussion of the history and impact of the book...

That was exactly the case with the example I quoted (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest) - which, come to think of it, was the Penguin Modern Classics edition.

Mike

[Grace Elliot]

I tend to download Indie authors and on the whole they cut straight to the story - with the odd exception where they thank their family, their pets, the window cleaner...et.c et.c which is pretty annoying.