I do! I confess, one peep at a book cover tells me whether or not it's a book I want to try. I like 'illustrations' rather than photographic reality, pastel colours are a bonus, but sometimes vibrant bright colours act as a draw as well. Does that make me very shallow?

[Fizban]

I used to. Boy, I'll never forget when I saw the cover to Dear Sir, I'm Yours by Joely Sue Burkhart, which probably evoked the most visceral positive response I've ever had to a book cover. I -had- to read that book immediately and it still remains one of my favorites. I highly recommend it if you are into reading about BDSM but want something outside of the usual club-oriented focus.

Unfortunately, ever since I had to switch over to e-books entirely due to aging eyes and an inability to wear glasses without getting a headache, I now pay very little attention to the covers any longer - it's the blurbs that determine whether I'll read a book or not. Not that I don't still pay attention to the covers once I get the book, but my first "point of contact" now is usually the blurb.

Sometimes I guess I usually skip books with those half naked bodies on the front.Those instantly make me not want to read them.
other then that I don't really care much.

Only if it looks like a menage or something like that. Otherwise, while I do find covers off putting, I'll still read a book if the plot and reviews sound good.

The cover is the first thing that attracts me to a book but I read the book description also, if its rubbish however good the cover is I do not bother.

[Imagine_That]

I do exactly what you do Zelda. The cover will attract me or put me off but I will also read the description. I often will go to Goodreads and read some reviews to get a better idea about the book as well. I spend a lot on books. I don't want to make a bad buy if I can help it!

I must confess I have the same rule for books as I do for music...if the cover illustration is awful (or the font is an overused free one....Bleeding Cowboys springs instantly to mind) I will probably dismiss it with nary a glance at the descriptive blurb. First impressions count for a lot and if an author/musician/publisher can't be bothered to put the finishing touches to a product it says a lot about their overall desire to see it succeed.

[Oberstein]

No

absolutely

Nah
Its equal to judging a person by his looks, always jumps into a mess

Haha, I do. Similar to some of the other members the cover is what attracts me to it and then I'm prompted to read the description. But nowadays with ebooks I actually judge a book by its title. Just like a cover the title can be off-putting or inviting.

the cover? never.

i first look at the subject, then if interested, i read the first sentence or sometimes a paragraph if I cant decide after reading just one sentence or a few words.

if the writer's style grabs me ill read it, sometimes though the opening is not enough to make a decision so then i read the last page, the last paragraph or a few sentences to the last sentence.

curiously, when i do find a book that grabs me and im excited to read it - after the first sentence test - sometimes i get so excited that i go and checkout the last page too, as if i'm making sure that it's gonna be that good!

I'm weird.

I only do this for fiction.

for nonfiction i just look at the subject to see if im gonna read it.

but i gotta admit the title also kinda is important for nonfiction - anything with words like cia, elite, class, politics, war, history, tech, genetics, nuclear, or secret or any combination thereof and im in.

As for the cover art or colors or what not, it's a nice bonus when for example the cover art is so nice you want a poster of it, or the cover art actually informs the book,

as in the dragonlance chronicles.

every book had excellent fantasy art by great artists on its cover of the characters, which really helped flesh them out,

especially because the art was so good you could read into it and project personalities onto the characters youre reading.

search images for larry elmore youll be amazed. now that's cover art!

Yup. A low quality covers very often translates to low quality content. That said, I imagine this bias also caused me to miss out on some decent reads!

[flawlessdreamer]

I kinda do. But sometimes I did decide to read the book, even if the cover was really bad, and the book turned out amazing!

how i choose book
1. filtering genre and the like
2. checking if it's short story or series
3. checking name
4. checking cover
the covers and names sometimes also tell u what kind of story it's, like urban fantasy, or romance and the like
5. checking the quality of the art
6. checking the sypnosis

usually, ~60% of the books i leave out was from checking cover xD
~38% due to synopsis and description
~2% due to name

so, yep, i do lol either because it seems "old school art" or because it mean the book is not of the genre i seek (once in a while they use the "wrong type" of cover, so i ended up missing the book xD)