2. Put your telephone in a box by the door. Leave it there. Go outside.
3. Walk to a bookstore. If you have to drive, then park somewhat far away from it, and go on foot the rest of the way. It's difficult to have the freedom of your mind while driving.
4. Enter the bookstore with a careless somewhat confused manner. Don't allow anyone to ask you what you are looking for because you don't know yet.
5. Wander around the bookstore for a while. Pick up books, put them down. Don't look too hard at anything.
6. Find a book that you know is good. Read a passage from it. Now you have a baseline for what is good.
7. Wander again, but now be on the look out. Pick up books and put them down, but this time read a page here and there.
8. My test is: if I can open a book randomly to three separate places and it is clean and wondrous, I buy it.
If there is even one misstep, I throw it down. A book is worth reading because of the author's mind! If the mind proves suspect, discard it.
A Cure for Suicide
9. Avoid the opening page. Do not read the back cover. Try not to look at books you have heard of.10. If you can, buy only one or two books at a time, and spend the day with the book you've bought. Take it to the park. Avoid people's eyes. Keep close to your new friend.