The answers to this quiz, along with my thoughts on each cover and a scoring system that most of you will probably cheat at.
Scoring: 0 points each. These were just warm-ups.
1.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
By J.K. Rowling
2.
The DaVinci Code
By Dan Brown
A sufficiently pulpy-looking cover to match the contents.
3.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
By Douglas Adams
A nice design, whimsical to match the book. Later editions have a more polished look, though.
Easy
Scoring: 1 point each.
4.
Ender's Game
By Orson Scott Card
Unfortunately, this book suffers from a problem that plagues much of the sci-fi genre: covers that seem to have been designed by people who never read the book.
5.
The Little Prince (Le Petit Prince in French)
By Antoine De Saint-Exupery
Why couldn't I find an image of this cover in English?
6.
The Lord of the Rings
By J.R.R. Tolkien
Actually, this is a design for the cover of The Fellowship of the Ring. The final cover omitted the bottom two rings, but this design feels much more balanced, and integrates the text more nicely.
7.
The Phantom Tollbooth
By Norton Juster
8.
Snow Falling on Cedars
By David Guterson
9.
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
By C.S. Lewis
As far as I know, no edition except the first was printed with this adorable cover. I can't imagine why... perhaps Edmund and Peter were jealous?
10.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
By Ronald Dahl
A rather creepy-looking cover with an odd sense of scale. Giant chocolate bar hovers over medium-sized Charlie, who seems to be disappearing Cheshire-Cat-like, and a tiny Willy Wonka. I can see why there weren't many editions with this cover.
Medium
Scoring: 2 points each; 1 point if you checked the publication date.
11.
Catch-22
By Joseph Heller
Still published with this cover, an elegant and eye-catching design.
12.
The Call of the Wild
By Jack London
The oldest book of this set that has a dust jacket, but one that doesn't match the feel of London's work very well.
13.
Fahrenheit 451
By Ray Bradbury
I apologize for the terrible Photoshopping job I did on this one, but you can see that it was unavoidable.
A compelling and somewhat disturbing cover image, in keeping with the book itself. Obviously this particular copy isn't a first edition, but it does bear the original cover.
14.
The Grapes of Wrath
By John Steinbeck
15.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Tom Sawyer's Comrade)
By Mark Twain
Yes, that kid on the cover does look more like Tom Sawyer. Tom Sawyer actually also has an interesting cover, but one that isn't remotely identifiable.
16.
A Wrinkle in Time
By Madeleine L'Engle
I'm not sure whether the color variation in the background is the result of discoloration, or if it was originally like that. Either way, this is a fascinating cover and a nicely designed one, though the colors date it pretty well.
Difficult
Scoring: 3 points each; 2 points if you checked the publication date; just 1 point if you checked both publication date and genre.
17.
Dune
By Frank Herbert
Another unfortunately generic science fiction cover that does nothing to recommend the book.
18.
The Hunt for Red October
By Tom Clancy
One of my favorite covers in this set, even though it is a Clancy. Simple, but compelling. The hammer and sickle are obvious, but what is that black shape? If you've read the book (or seen the movie), you know it's a submarine, but otherwise, it's very mysterious.
19.
Lord of the Flies
By William Golding
Another cover that has a strong likelihood of being designed by someone who never read the book. This looks like a jungle Utopia. Where's the pig's head on a stick?
20.
The Old Man and the Sea
By Ernest Hemingway
You probably thought it was my Photoshopping that made the bottom a brown smudge. No, I am vindicated to say that it was a brown smudge originally.
Of all the authors featured here, Hemingway is the only one who had single name recognition at the time the book was published. All the other authors listed their first name or initials as well as their last name.
21.
The Princess Bride (S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure)
By William Goldman
22.
Rebecca
By Daphne Du Maurier
I was torn about whether to include this cover because it's so hard to see, but I liked it so much that I had to put it in. It conveys the mood of the book so well, as if Rebecca's all-pervasive influence has reached all the way onto the cover.
23.
The Secret Garden
By Frances Hodgson Burnett
Simple, but sweet. Poorly designed, though: why is the bottom third of the cover blank when the spine is crowded with text and images?
24.
To Kill a Mockingbird
By Harper Lee
An elegant design for an elegant book.
25.
The Time Machine
By H.G. Wells
Not sure what the sphinx did to merit a place on this cover, especially since Wells' sphinx doesn't resemble the Egyptian sphinx at all, but otherwise a sound and understated design.
Final Scoring
0 points: Dead
1-7 points: Alive
8-13 points: Sentient
14-22 points: Literate
23-31 points: Intelligent
32-37 points: Learned
38-47 points: Genius
48+ points: Can't Count
Think this is the best quiz ever? Annoyed that you only scored as sentient? Email me: [email protected].