Ideally: figure out the "mood" of the project, then commission a custom design that evokes it. Failing the latter, look hard for a good match (that's not over-used).

Thanks Hrant, it would be nice to be able to commission a custom design.

You can view paragraphs of text in Fontexplorer. Select the font or fonts (if the're non consecutive hold 'command' key as you select) then hit command I (that's i for info), click on the 'detailed preview' pane and double click anywhere inside that window. there you will see dummy text choices one of which is 'A horse's tale' by Mark Twain. But you can also 'roll your own' by choosing custom and cutting and pasting from whatever source you wish.
HTH
Les

Thanks Les, I meant in the actual viewer itself, to be able to select a couple of fonts and select as paragraph so you can scroll through paragraphs of each. Currently it shows ones long sentence and when a few fonts are selected theyre so cramped together that I find it quite difficult to focus properly on one alone.

Lots of questions come in my mind when I've to choose a typeface. I would say this: What kind of projetc? Long reading or short folder? Poster or book? Is there all the accented letters in the font? Is there a lot of weights from light to Ultra for instance? What kind of readers will have? After, I choose in my short list the one who reach the most my target.

If I see some Egyptian or slab serif on the page, I know I'm being lied to. If I see text set in Palatino, I know they lack imagination (use Aldus Roman!). I am reading a book set in Goudy Old Style; it looks too thin and weak.

I use Aldus Roman, Palatino 1950 (not current styles), Trajanus, Lydian, and occasionally Optima. Sabon isn't bad. I would never set text in sans-serif of any description.