I'm Natalie Moore. I fell in love with soap operas when I was just five years old, and I still

watch them. Their television's longest scripted series and have zero reruns. Now let me tell you,

soap operas aren't just some silly art form. They are significant. In this season of making,

Stories Without End from WBEZ Chicago, join me as I share how the genre

began, their social impact, and why these stories endure. Listen wherever you get your podcast.

From WBEZ Chicago, this is Nerdette. I'm Greta Johnson, and this is the first installment of NERDETT's special series Undercover.

It's an investigation into the different ways a book can come to life.

First up, we are going to examine a seemingly small but extremely important and kind of controversial element of the

tome you hold in your hands. Next week, we're going to hear about what it takes to get a print

book into your earbuds. And the week after that, we are going to learn all about all of the different

people involved in getting that story onto the big or little screen. We're going to answer

questions like,

why are so many people upset about blurbs?

For me, it is quite stressful.

Do authors actually make any money off film adaptations of their books?

Think of it as like a cool thing that could happen, but probably won't.

And what do a narrator's vocal warm-ups sound like?

Today, we are talking all about how we judge a book, which, of course, is by its cover.

I am unabashedly shallow about this.

It's like a personal, it's a personal thing, I think.

Those are a group of avid readers that we talked to at volumes book cafe here in Chicago.

I don't usually like to rely on the cover because of that old, you know, don't judge a book by

...