SOunds like you're talking about nonfiction books and indeed, like most things, those are mostly crap. As far as fiction goes the same is true but there's one

SOunds like you're talking about nonfiction books and indeed, like most things, those are mostly crap. As far as fiction goes the same is true but there's one weird trick I use: by and large I only read books by dead authors. The volume of the world's books is enormous, and again, most is crap. But if someone has died (no more book publicity tours!) and their book is still in print or readily available, there's a better chance that it's worth reading. There's more to it than that of course; naïvely following this rule would suggest reading (ugh) Ayn Rand. But there's a big variety of good stuff still in print or easily findable at a used book store.