Judging a Book by its Cover

If you love roving bookstores, then you must be guilty of judging a book by its cover. You pass over dozens of books to pick up one striking title and cover. There are some books required for classes -- good books -- that I would have never picked up without instruction or previous experience with the author. Maybe there are some that you refuse to buy on principle -- I won't buy any edition of a book whose cover has been changed to include, "Now a Major Motion Picture," especially if the actors are on the cover.

Whatever your standards, if you're a fan of books and design, check out the blog, The Book Design Review. Joseph Sullivan highlights the best, worst and mediocre cover designs. It's a chance for book lovers to see all different kinds of books on all different topics. And it's a chance for those who enjoy graphic design to see some great work.

Start out with Sullivan's post, My Favorite Books Covers of 2008.

Maggie Extraordinaire

My wife has a sexy intellect. I love watching her read big history books, listen to NPR and get A's on her term papers. Now, I have additional opportunity to be infatuated. She started blogging at The Ainsworth Abode. While wisdom would have you avoid any infatuation, I'm certain that reading her musings will prove edifying for you and others.

Recently, in commenting on a TIME article, she offered a Christian response to childhood obesity, one of countless contemporary expressions of American idolatry. It is indeed an epidemic and will have disastrous results in individual lives, families and the larger society, much farther than the epidemiologists suggest. Sure, there will be greater disease, death and economic hardship but what will be the spiritual cost of hundreds of thousands serving the god in their belly?