Same way that you won’t know whether drugs are really that bad unless you’ve personally tried them, which doesn’t mean you must try them. You build a taste for books, skim through it, read reviews from people you trust... I suppose everyone has their own way of measuring a book before diving into it, and one can of course quit in the middle of it should one make the wrong decision.

Bad analogy. The entire premise of that hypothetical situation with trying drugs is that the potential risk of trying the bad ones is high (potentially your health or life).

In contrast, what’s the price of reading a book and realizing it is awful? Literally nothing except the time you spent reading it. Hardly life-ruining.

If your problem is just the metaphor, just replace it with someone's momma's cooking that everyone raves about. You can taste a bit of it and you don't have to eat the whole thing, neither do you have to try it. The point stands. And honestly the concern is rather petty.

It's seriously annoying how people get pedantic with metaphors.

It's a damn metaphor - if we wanted to be precise we'd roll with the whole damn explanation without metaphors.

> do you know if a book is good

Usually by the cover.

No, I'm not kidding. Publishers aren't stupid, they're going to put their best foot forward on the front & back covers.

For example, for scifi, the following lines on the back cover are cause for putting it back on the shelf:

1. journey to the end of the universe

2. journey to the end of time

3. the fate of the galaxy hangs in the balance

Those novels always turn out to be bad :-/

Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy does all of those and is worth a read. Mostly you want to read each story template roughly once, hitchhikers guide to the galaxy is pretty unique and touches on a lot of story templates so is efficient.

The back cover of that book begins:

> Seconds before Earth is demolished to make way for a galactic freeway, Arthur Dent is plucked off the planet by his friend Ford Prefect, a researcher for the revised edition of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy who, for the last fifteen years, has been posing as an out-of-work actor.

The second paragraph back there does start "Together, this dynamic pair begin a journey through space aided by...", but IMO the Hitchhiker's Guide doesn't really fit the proposed pattern very well: There's a lot more to it than just the bland stock phrases.

HHG is satire, which is judged differently.

But I do think that simple stories are also worth a read if you haven't read those kinds yet. There is a reason for kids to read simple stories, if you didn't read them before it might be worth to read them even as an adult to fill a hole. So basically if it looks like you have already read the story then there is no need to read it again.

Btw, I didn't downvote you, I never up/downvote people. I do like responding to downvoted people though.

I put down at least 1/4 to 1/3 of the books that I start. I have very limited time to read (3 kids under 3 years, etc.). I won't spend that resource doing something that I am not enjoying. How do you do it?

About to have our 3rd so I can relate. I have a backlog of books and I just slowly chip away at them. Nights, nap time on the weekends sometimes.