I try hard not to have any expectations of the books that I review. Honestly, I do. But it never works. There are some where I'm like a four-year-old kid at Christmas - any ideas about removing the wrapping sensibly go straight out the window as I bore a hole directly through the 16 layers of cardboard and plastic that shipping companies insist on sheathing books in for freight, desperate to get to the wordy goodness contained within.
Other times, there are books that I am relatively neutral about. The packaging is removed neatly, and the book is put somewhere respectful until I have the chance to get acquainted with it.
The final group consists of the ones that I'm leery about. They're the books that are sometimes not even removed from the box until I have to read them, and even then I might spend a couple of days eyeing them warily before I finally crack the cover open.
As much as I hate to say it, this book fell into the last camp. Part of the reason was that I have always found Timothy Collings's books a bit hit-and-miss, both in the quality of their information and also in the way that they're written. Some have been OK; others I have been rather less excited about.