I'm nit proud of it, but yes.

Sometimes!!!

No, I can even read a book with bad reviews, if I'm interested in the topic of this book and the author does not annoy him with the writing style from the first pages.

[ReluctanceTango]

To an extent, I do, because covers tell us a great deal about the writer and the publisher: Their judgment, their taste and even their respect (or lack thereof) for readers. An ugly cover might as well be a death knell for a book. If a publisher can't even bother to come up with something worth looking at on the cover, that doesn't bode well for their attention to something more important: The contents of the book itself.

As it is, most book genres have a certain "look" to their cover art, to cue readers for what we can expect of the contents. Best example: Bodice-ripper romance novels. We know what they are as soon as we see one of those covers. It's a shortcut so that we can make a quick decision about getting that kind of book or moving on. In a library or retailer with thousands or millions of books vying for our attention, the visual clues save us a great deal of time and effort.

A book with a bad cover, or one that skirts too close to the artistic motifs of a genre I either don't read, or don't read often, will need incredible buzz/reviews to get me to get it or read it, because I won't even go to the trouble of picking it up/clicking on its link to read the description. Life is too short to spend more time reading descriptions than reading the many great books with better covers.

[ReluctanceTango]

kinda like how the (1982) film The Thing flopped when it 1st came out back than at the box office and that's one of the best horror films of all time.

Oh man--Don't even talk about The Thing. I saw it when it came out at the cinema (yeah, I'm old), and I had nightmares for years about people's heads popping off and sprouting spider legs (or similar).

They tapered off, but they never went away. 40 years later, I still have the occasional nightmare from something in that movie.

[ReluctanceTango]

(once in a while they use the "wrong type" of cover, so i ended up missing the book xD)

I almost missed getting Vladimir by Julia May Jonas, for this very reason. That's why I try to stay on top of buzz/reviews of books, so that I don't miss any of the good releases with covers that don't "fit" the kind of book, or at least the kind I'm looking for.

Apparently, my image memory is better than recall of titles. I have been treated to a few times of deja vue when a book was re-released with different cover art. Reading along, I become aware that I know what will happen next. Sometimes pleasantly and I'll continue on with a re-read, other times, I am glad I realized I had already read it and don't care to go on.

i try not to, but i do most times

All the time

I don't judge a book by its cover, but the first thing that catches our eye is the design or appearance. The same applies to books. I prefer to choose books based on recommendations from friends or annotations.

i'm not gonna lie sometimes it can lead me to want to read a book. other times as in the case of King it can have awful covers but if i read what's it's about than i want to read it or if i love the author i'll read it regardless. i don't go by if friends tell me it's good i go by myself though friends have gotten me to read a number of books and i've both liked it or hated it.

Sometimes, because I want to make sure that the publisher is investing in art/artists for the book in question. Art and artists should be a part of the industry and paid well for their work, and I do want to enjoy something that has good art. And, a lot of the time, if they have good art/artists employed, they pay and invest in good editors and acquisition. But I also like to look at reviews too!

I'm so bad - I judge every book by its cover. I'm particularly fond of those with foiling on the design. I love the gold/silver shine!

its the first thing that hits your eyes.

No, sometimes I don't even read the description of the book, just read it.