On Reading Introductions.

[nirinia]

One should never read the introductions in books published by Penguin before beginning a book, for the very simple reason that they are not introductions, but afterwords. They, as a rule, discuss the sentral happenings, the plot, the themes (bah!) and characters in minute detail, and makes very little sense to anyone not familiar with the work. Why they are forwords at all, I can't phatom for the life of me. If not the people at Penguin think it a very good idea to always spoil their readers' experience by sparing them the trouble of reading the book.

Unless the foreword is by the author, I do not read them before finishing the book. Though authors are occasaionally of Penguin's dispoisition, at the least, they're usually not so with a vengeance.

Comments

[kriwik.livejournal.com]

Smart, smart! Da har jeg lært to ting i dag: å bruke førstegir i snike-veier og brå svinger, og å ikke lese forord i Penguin-bøker.

Kan jeg spørre om noe? Jeg gjør det likevel. Layout: den jeg har, eller noen av disse:
http://lightgreylayout.livejournal.com/
http://darkwomanlayout.livejournal.com/
http://lightwomlayout.livejournal.com/

[nirinia.livejournal.com]

Man lærer så lenge man lever. Good stuff.

Jeg likte de to siste best, de var helt nydelige. Den i midten er vel ikke helt deg, tror jeg. Enten den første eller siste?