Cities and suburbs, real and imaginary.

Wednesday, June 6, 2007

dust jacket

i do not like book dust jackets. they’re ugly. they’re bulky. they make a beautiful hardback look like it’s in disguise as a paperback. dust jackets get in the way when i am reading. they catch on fingers and flop around everywhere.

i take the dust jackets off. i throw them away. perhaps i shorten the lifespan of the book, but the only thing that truly extends a book’s lifespan is continued readership. whether the artifact remains alive is not nearly as important as the words inside of the artifact thriving in the minds of mortals.

when i let a book die of dust, I suspect i will have to purchase it again someday. thus, i am extending demand for the books that i love enough to purchase in hardback.

let there be dust.

1 comment:

Jeff said...

Agreed! Dust jackets don't protect the book - they just make them look bad because they always end up ripped or wrinkled. I don't think the cover will die of dust. I think it's just cheaper for companies to print on the jacket than on the hard cover. I consider the dust jacket packaging and advertising for the book.