If you're looking for patterns for hats with a tone similar to those on the cover, this might not be the book for you. A preponderance of the styles inside have quite a different look than those on the cover of the book and are quite fanciful; some have big, craftsy embellishments, for example. Not exactly what I have in mind for wearing to work or even for a hike in the woods. On the other hand, many of the patterns would lend themselves well to leaving off the embellishments or toning down bright colors to produce less playful hats, and the basic shapes of a lot of the hats are very attractive. It would be easy to modify these patterns to a more understated look. For me, the patterns for the two lovely, reasonable hats on the cover were worth the price of the book (considering that you can spend just about the price of this book for only a few single-page hat patterns at a yarn shop).