What do you think about book introductions?

[Myrup]

So I just bought Everymans library edition of Howard's end after watching the movie and feeling "I need more of this" (I know I should have read the book first, but now I did this backwards). But I haven't been able to "make myself" start reading it cause the introduction overwhelms me so. 

 

I've started reading it two times now but it's an heavy 25 page long text of what to me just feel like word dumping. I know it's well thought out and packed with good and painting descriptions. But just three pages in I have no idea what I'm reading because the text has lost me, it feels like I am reading an essay I'm to stupid to understand. Am I just dumb for not getting it? 

 

English isn't my first language, so maybe I'm just bad at it. 

 

So I'm wondering what your thoughts on book introductions are?.

 

Are they a "must read" before the book. Or am I alright for skipping it and go straight for the story. 

[KEV67]

A problem with a lot of introductions is they give a lot of the plot away. So often it is advisable to read them after the book. Another thing is that when I get a book, I want to get started. I don't want to read thirty pages of introduction first. Nevertheless, the introductions are interesting sometimes.

[lunababymoonchild]

There are no hard and fast rules, it's what you find convenient. I never read the introduction because, like Kev, I'm too eager to start the book and the introduction might spoil it. After the book I'm not interested.

 

I read Howard's End, it's a great book and I did not read the introduction.

Edited December 19, 2021 by lunababymoonchild
Fix dodgy typing

[Brian.]

11 hours ago, KEV67 said:

A problem with a lot of introductions is they give a lot of the plot away. So often it is advisable to read them after the book. Another thing is that when I get a book, I want to get started. I don't want to read thirty pages of introduction first. Nevertheless, the introductions are interesting sometimes.

 

This is what I do. I read the book first and then when I'm finished, if I want to learn more about the story or the author I go back and read the introduction.

[Hux]

Reading them before the book will almost certainly spoil the book.

 

Reading them after you've finished feels a bit pointless, like having sex with a beautiful woman then, immediately afterwards, going on a date with her. Kinda redundant. 

 

I might read it after I've finished, but only if I feel I've missed some aspect of the story or theme which the introduction might give some insight into.

 

 

Edited December 20, 2021 by Hux

[Chrissy]

7 hours ago, Hux said:

Reading them after you've finished feels a bit pointless, like having sex with a beautiful woman then, immediately afterwards, going on a date with her. Kinda redundant. 

 

If your only aim was to merely have sex, then you may be correct. I would suggest that there may be more to a beautiful woman than just her sexual attractiveness though, and therefore a date could enrich the entire experience for you both.

 

Just as reading the introduction after reading a book might give you greater insight, and enhance your overall reading experience. 

[Myrup]

22 hours ago, Hux said:

Reading them before the book will almost certainly spoil the book.

 

Reading them after you've finished feels a bit pointless, like having sex with a beautiful woman then, immediately afterwards, going on a date with her. Kinda redundant. 

 

I might read it after I've finished, but only if I feel I've missed some aspect of the story or theme which the introduction might give some insight into.

 

 

Hehe I appreciate the way you see it! 😂 Thanks! 😊

[Myrup]

14 hours ago, Chrissy said:

 

If your only aim was to merely have sex, then you may be correct. I would suggest that there may be more to a beautiful woman than just her sexual attractiveness though, and therefore a date could enrich the entire experience for you both.

 

Just as reading the introduction after reading a book might give you greater insight, and enhance your overall reading experience. 

Yeah! Abit like when I saw the film “Howard’s end”. I just wanted more. So then to go back to read the introduction after finishing the book might give me some good insight or new ways of thinking and reflect about it. 

[Myrup]

On 2021-12-19 at 10:57 PM, lunababymoonchild said:

There are no hard and fast rules, it's what you find convenient. I never read the introduction because, like Kev, I'm too eager to start the book and the introduction might spoil it. After the book I'm not interested.

 

I read Howard's End, it's a great book and I did not read the introduction.

Thanks! Then I’ll try to not feel bad that I skipped the introduction! 

[Raven]

On 12/19/2021 at 9:25 PM, Myrup said:

 

So I'm wondering what your thoughts on book introductions are?.

 

Are they a "must read" before the book. Or am I alright for skipping it and go straight for the story. 

 

 

There is no right or wrong answer to this, but if you are finding the introduction difficult to get through I would definitely recommend skipping it (you can always come back to it later, after all).

 

For me, it depends on who has written the introduction and what it's scope is.

 

Introductions in Penguin Classics, for example, usually tend to be an essay by an authority on the book that can be more than a little academic in tone, whereas introductions to other classic or popular books by current authors etc. often tend to be more light-weight (basically less spoilers and more "why I like this" and are usually only a few pages long).

 

When reading a book for the first time I generally tend to skip introductions if they are the former, but I will sometimes read them if they are the latter (if they are spoiler free, some positive words about a book can add to my enthusiasm for what is to come, but it can also build up expectations, so possibly a double-edged-sword!)

 

If I don't read the introduction before I read the book - and I like the book - I'll then go back and read it.  If the book wasn't that great, I usually won't bother. 

 

I almost always read introductions if I am re-reading a book, however, as it can give me a fresh perspective on the story (I've just done this with the Fellowship of the Ring, for example, and it reminded me of a few things to look out for, and several things I had forgotten).

 

[willoyd]

I never read the introduction to a novel first for, as Kev67 says, it all too often gives away aspects of the plot.  The one exception to that is if it has been written by the author.  If it hasn't, it's not an integral part of the book, simply something offered by that particular publisher as a supplement.  I almost always go back to it after reading the book itself, and it more often than not provides some useful clarification or supplementation, usually about the context of its being written.  I almost always find that having read the book improves my appreciation of the introduction (andof the book itself) - and wonder why they aren't offered as a 'Afterword' instead.  Of couse, some introductions are better than others!

 

As a corollary to that, I almost always read the introduction to a piece of non-fiction first. But that's because, unlike with novels, they are almost always written by the author him/herself, and are genuinely intended as an introduction to the main exposition. Even if not written by the author, I still tend to read them: there's almost always little plot to give away!

 

 

Edited December 22, 2021 by willoyd

[KEV67]

Had a cynical thought about introductions. Sometimes when you have finished reading a classic book, say The Outsider, you wonder what was so great about that. You cannot brag to acquaintances about reading it unless they ask you what is was about and why it was good. That is what the introduction is for. The problem is some of those introductions are pretty long. The Outsider being only 130 pages long, the introduction is manageable. The introduction to my copy of Ulysses was about 50 pages long. It was more comprehensible than most the book, but I doubt I would be able to remember much of it.