Ponder Post: Judging a Book by Its Cover

I just finished reading the book Switch by Chip Heath and Dan Heath. I like the books these two brothers write, but I especially love the covers that look three dimensional yet are not. You have to run your fingers over the red parts of this cover to convince yourself that the red embossed tape is not really on there, just an image, complete with that bent upper right corner on the top label. You can't get that experience from an e-book!

This book was written in 2010.
I am not known for my timely selection of reading material.

These labels were once so ubiquitous I think most everyone can recall them.

The Heath Brothers' 2007 book, Made to Stick, had a 3-D illusionary aspect to it too, only with a piece of slightly wrinkled grey duct tape. I'd read and liked Made to Stick and reviewed it in my post for April 19, 2014. Aside from the cover, I'd liked the writing style that was simple to follow and gave tons of examples to convey the content. But, I digress from the book at hand.

The duct tape image on this book cover is so real looking.
It also conveys that a person must be able to relate to an idea for it to stick.
Who has not crossed paths with duct tape at some point in one's life?

Switch addresses the topic of making a change, at a corporate or a personal level. It is presented in a style very similar to Made to Stick. The metaphor throughout Switch is that of a rider on an elephant traveling along a path. The rider is the thinking part of the equation, the elephant the emotional part which can often overpower the rider. The rider makes PowerPoint presentations and delivers intellectually convincing facts but the elephant inspires at the gut level. The path is a clear vision of not just where to go but how to get there. I attached a summary sheet from the book outlining that to make a switch it is necessary to

Direct the Rider  ➔  Motivate the Elephant  ➔ Shape the Path

Revealing the summary sheet does not at all spoil reading the book. The variety of examples throughout and the conclusions of the many cited experiments are fascinating. I very much enjoyed reading this easy-flowing, non-fiction book.

A summary page from the book Switch is sprinkled with bracketed
 [phrases designed to help the reader recall the associated examples within the book].

In my recent November 18, 2014 post about three books, I mentioned that one can not judge a book by its author. I suppose one cannot judge a book by its cover either. Liking both of these covers did not assure I would like the books but it was fun to have that little optical/tactile illusionary pleasure along the way.

I suppose that to judge a book you just have to... are you ready for this?... read the dang thing!