You Can Judge a Book by Its Cover

As a very visual person, I often break the rule of not judging a book by its cover.  In an interview with book cover designer Chip Kidd that I recently read, he referred to the book cover as the book's face.  I like that analogy.  No, the quality of what's inside the book may not be properly communicated by the cover design, but I think that the cover does play a big part in immediately giving the potential reader insight into the theme and emotion of the book.

I think one big purpose the book cover needs to serve is as advertising for the book.  It needs to allow that particular book to stand out amongst a large crowd on a shelf, and intrigue someone enough to be interested in opening it up.

Below I've pulled together some of my favorite book covers, which also happen to be fantastic reads.

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon

Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton

Buddha, Vol. 1 by Osamu Tezuka

What are some of your favorite book cover designs?  Do you judge a book by its cover?