It was an afternoon in a bookstore. My wife was strolling around the classics section. I sat and watched. She grabbed a book, checked the back side summary, and placed it back. Then she grabbed the next one and did the same.

All of a sudden I thought to myself why do we do this? Why do we glance at the book summary? We flash through and make a judgment.

The overview of a book won't actually change anything. It will set expectations. These expectations will make us imagine ourselves in the future.

What I am trying to say is that reading the back cover lets us borrow the feeling of having read the book. We project ourselves into a future where we finished it, and that projection gives us a little hit of satisfaction.

But isn't the value of the book in the reading of it? In the thoughts and realizations that come about through that long process. In the struggle of staying with it.

The value lays in the process. In the up and down. In the moments where our eyes open a little wider.

That glance at the book summary is a substitute for hard work. It gives us the feeling without the change. And the feeling is enough to make us walk away.