[woolion]

I don't think that it's necessarily true, but the big problem is that discoverability is almost impossible, and that the investment to know how good a book might be is much higher than other forms of media. It's also why you might get more out of books, you have to make some efforts to ingest them, but this means it's a problem if you have no idea how good it might be.

[chii]

> if you have no idea how good it might be.

for games, steam offers a trial of the game which can be refunded in full if you do it within two hours. It's a great feature for consumer protection imho.

I'd like to try a chapter or two of a book first, and if it doesn't grab, get a full refund. This is how you can prevent sinking time (and money, presumably) into a bad book.

[rkomorn]

I don't know where the divide comes from (cultural, generational, social class, or something else) but the idea of thinking "I want to get my money back" for something like a book, music, or a video game is strange to me.

Sometimes I make bad purchases, and that's just too bad.

[GuinansEyebrows]

please, don't forget about your local library! you can probably read the entire book (digitally, too! or listen to it!) at no cost to yourself.

[Nursie]

This is often (far from always) available on kindle. A one or two chapter sample for free.

[CuriouslyC]

This is literally the whole value proposition of brick and mortar book stores...

[norome]

compounded by the fact that reviews, awards, and any institution which formerly served to find good and worthy books or movies seem to have become completely detached from genuine popular interest and quality.