do you read a book's introduction before you read the book itself?

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i would have presumed this was obvious,i mean the word introduction implies that you should read it first,and the fact that it's printed at the start...
however,in my last year of school,(3 years ago)a teacher made some reference to the fact that you should read the introduction after the main text,and said it in such a way that i was lead to believe that this was in fact the standard way of doing things...
it kind of makes sense,in that the introduction would frequently spoil plot points...
since then i tend to skip the introduction and read it after i've read the book...
am i the only person who thinks about things like this?
and what is the accepted norm;before or after the actual novel/whatever

― robin (robin), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 10:27 (twenty-three years ago)

last time i read an intro before the main text it was to kafka's 'The trial'. I couldn't understand a word of it!

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 10:32 (twenty-three years ago)

I'm against reading introductions first! See:

Long winded introductions by someone or another in books: classic or dud?

― jel -- (jel), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 10:33 (twenty-three years ago)

well there's "Introductions", and there's "Forwards". I'm all for introductions but I frown madly on yawny forwards.

and what's a "Preface" ?

― Fuzzy (Fuzzy), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 11:11 (twenty-three years ago)

I usually read introductions as soon as I buy a book, they're short and I can finish them waiting for a bus or whatever. BUT since I don't get around to reading the actual BOOK for sometimes years, I've probably read about 150+ introductions to books I've never read. Good one me.

― Andrew Thames (Andrew Thames), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 12:10 (twenty-three years ago)

I read them first. I like introductions and forwards and prefaces.

― toraneko (toraneko), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 12:27 (twenty-three years ago)

That's the other reason I read them, I should have said. The work they talk about (which I haven't read) often ends up being more evocative and intriguing than the actual read book. Bummer.

― Andrew Thames (Andrew Thames), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 12:33 (twenty-three years ago)

I will read them if they are written by the author, or someone else I respect. But I generally won't wade through pages of twaddle to get to the story, because I don't like being told What To Think.

― kate, Tuesday, 14 January 2003 13:04 (twenty-three years ago)

What about the acknowlegements, dedications and that clever quotation that tells you what the book is really about?

― N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 13:10 (twenty-three years ago)

I thought those were just there to make the author look well-read/befriended etc

― Andrew Thames (Andrew Thames), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 13:35 (twenty-three years ago)

N., I sometimes read it only to see if I can recognize names.
I always read it first. Esp when it's an academic book. Arendt's intro to Benjamin was more difficult than the main text. hah!

― nathalie (nathalie), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 14:42 (twenty-three years ago)

I read it first if I basically know the plot (first reading of Madame Bovary, say), or don't think I care about spoilers (Ulysses, say), as introductions are very often liable to give things away. I enjoy them in general (though there are bad and dull examples, obviously), and often find them informative and illuminating.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 18:29 (twenty-three years ago)

I love 'em except for spoilers, which makes things tricky, 'cause I really really love introductory materials generally speaking -- any ephemera associated with something I like makes me like it more. (The opposite is also good: insufficient context can be exciting). Multiple intros are best (doesn't Tristram Shandy have several? of course the whole book is an intro, really). But fear of spoilers finds me sort of tentatively stepping into passages of explication prepared to skip ahead if salient plot details start springout out. Very video-game exciting!

― J0hn Darn13ll3 (J0hn Darn13ll3), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 18:33 (twenty-three years ago)

If it's an Author's Note, I will not read it unless it's only a page long.

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 18:39 (twenty-three years ago)

I used to read the intro's in all of my books, until I did so with "Confederacy of Dunces." That ended-up making me so depressed that I wasn't able to enjoy the humor of the book (that took until I read it over a weekend drinking binge - then it was hillarious).

Now I am torn about them - sometimes when I don't read them until after I finish the text I find that I've missed something important. But then I think "Well, if it was that important, they should have made it more obvious." Kind of like assigning the blame to anyone else but me.

― LCD (Ms Laura), Wednesday, 15 January 2003 07:24 (twenty-three years ago)

I read them first until it seems like the author is telling me what to think. Historical context can be cool sometimes, though.

I do tend to get really into reading author's notes and acknowledgments. Sometimes I catch myself reading them and wonder why I'm wading through two pages of names of people I haven't met who helped an author while he was writing a book I haven't yet read. There's something weirdly compelling about them.

― Chris P (Chris P), Wednesday, 15 January 2003 07:31 (twenty-three years ago)

Chris - I think it's always at the back of my mind that "gosh, maybe if I take the time to read all of these names, maybe someday I'll be in some such list and other people will take the time to read my name." It's like an unstated "I'll scratch your back..." situation. Karma or something.

― LCD (Ms Laura), Wednesday, 15 January 2003 07:38 (twenty-three years ago)

dont read them at all.

― anthony easton (anthony), Wednesday, 15 January 2003 07:43 (twenty-three years ago)

How do you know what to think, then?

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Wednesday, 15 January 2003 18:26 (twenty-three years ago)

I skip the intro and read the book. Then I go back to the intro and read/skim it depending on how much I like it. That way I can compare the intro to what I got out of the book on my own. Almost all intros (in classic lit anyway) are definitely spoilers.

― Sarah McLusky (coco), Wednesday, 15 January 2003 18:32 (twenty-three years ago)

Stanislaw Lem (of _Solaris_ fame) wrote some book that was at least 50% introduction(s). What was it? I forget. Anyway, it was pretty funny. Introductions addressing introductions, author talking to author, etc. Then the book itself addressed the introduction. All very meta. Ahem.

― Colin Saunders (csaunders), Thursday, 16 January 2003 01:43 (twenty-three years ago)

I always end up reading them. Half the time it puts me off actually reading the book. I should probably start skipping them, eh?

― Justyn Dillingham (Justyn Dillingham), Thursday, 16 January 2003 02:19 (twenty-three years ago)

Almost all critical editions give away too much of the plot, so into the text I go first. Worst introduction EVER = Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter. Thanks for the customs-house twaddle, you crazy man.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 16 January 2003 02:27 (twenty-three years ago)

Isn't the Lem a collection of intros to non-existent books? If I weren't too lazy to climb the stairs to the library (and the Simpsons wasn't on TV) I could check.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Thursday, 16 January 2003 18:11 (twenty-three years ago)

Taking sides, Lem vs. Borges? I think I just prefer Lem, though not sure why.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 17 January 2003 02:42 (twenty-three years ago)

Introductions are cool BECAUSE they put you off reading the books, so you can move on to better ones.

― B.Rad (Brad), Friday, 17 January 2003 02:44 (twenty-three years ago)

Lem's great, but Borges is peerless.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Friday, 17 January 2003 18:11 (twenty-three years ago)

I read the introduction to a Edgar Allan Poe selection recently. I'm still confused abt him marrying his 13 year old cousin (who died in a year or so). Not something that's easy or even possible today (that's 19th c. America for you then).

So I read introductions for biographical notes I guess. But it's mostly after I become fascinated by a writer and I want to know abt his background. In that case I have already read the book more than once.

I tried to read the introduction to Tristam Shandy yesterday but I draw the line there for the moment. I have to read the book first!

― erik, Friday, 17 January 2003 19:06 (twenty-three years ago)

So in marriage terms, Edgar Allan Poe = Jerry Lee Lewis!

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Friday, 17 January 2003 19:52 (twenty-three years ago)

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