Book-browsing behaviour

When in bookstores, besides looking at books, I also look at people looking at books. It’s interesting to observe the various sorts of book-browsing behaviour. Some like to pick up a book, look at its back, put it back down. Some like to flip through the pages. Some read a book there and then, starting from the beginning, or somewhere in the middle. Some sit on the floor, a pile of books by their side. Some never seem to ever pick up a book, but merely grant their covers cursory glances. But what I notice is that people seldom flip to the first few pages of a book, where its publication details, copyright info and other boring information can be found. I suppose you’ll mainly find that type of people in the Science section.

For me, it’s almost automatic: once I’ve checked out the book backcover (what’s it about?), I’ll sniff out the author background (what sort of exposure, biases, if any?). Then I’ll get a feel of its pages (what’s it like inside? paper texture, typefonts, font size?) and the writing style (first person? third?). For non-fiction books, I’ll also consider its year of publication (how up-to-date?), contents page (how structured and comprehensive?), and sometimes, the index. Book selection is almost a science.