# Bookworms: Do you do what Levar Burton does?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bookworms-do-you-do-what-levar-burton-does/675949
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [December 10, 2013, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bookworms-do-you-do-what-levar-burton-does/675949 "2013-12-10T03:22:44Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2013, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bookworms-do-you-do-what-levar-burton-does/675949/1 "2013-12-10T03:22:44Z")
Because this sounds insane.
He has a late night commercial on talk radio preaching about the joys of reading. In this commercial he states (more or less): “Sometimes, when I’m in the middle of a really good book, I’ll flip to the very last page and take a peek at the last paragraph. Because a good book should have a good ending.”
What!?:dubious:
Spoiler Alert Fail!!
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### Author:  [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2013, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bookworms-do-you-do-what-levar-burton-does/675949/2 "2013-12-10T03:24:15Z")
Before I switched to eReaders, I always read the last page of every book first.
I think it’s way cool that Levar and I share that habit!
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### Author:  [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2013, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bookworms-do-you-do-what-levar-burton-does/675949/3 "2013-12-10T03:25:44Z")
I wouldn’t have ten years ago, but, yeah, now I do. I’ve read enough books that I know it’s not very likely I’ll be surprised as how the story turns out, but if I’m going to invest a few hours I do want to know it’ll end well. I wish I’d done that with the Firefly Brothers.
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### Author:  [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2013, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bookworms-do-you-do-what-levar-burton-does/675949/4 "2013-12-10T03:27:29Z")
Yes, I know of some people who do that. They say it makes them appreciate the read-through better.
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### Author:  [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2013, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bookworms-do-you-do-what-levar-burton-does/675949/5 "2013-12-10T03:33:08Z")
I don’t do it, myself, to determine if the book is any good, but for no reason I can explain. Weird. Just liked doing it.
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### Author:  [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2013, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bookworms-do-you-do-what-levar-burton-does/675949/6 "2013-12-10T03:33:13Z")
> [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](#):
>
> I wouldn’t have ten years ago, but, yeah, now I do. I’ve read enough books that I know it’s not very likely I’ll be surprised as how the story turns out, but if I’m going to invest a few hours I do want to know it’ll end well. I wish I’d done that with the Firefly Brothers.
Plus now you’re aged enough that there’s a good chance you might drop dead before finishing the book, so naturally you want to know how it will come out just in case.
Me! Never. I read it all in proper order. (But then, I plan to live forever.)
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### Author:  [@blue\_infinity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blue_infinity)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2013, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bookworms-do-you-do-what-levar-burton-does/675949/7 "2013-12-10T03:36:17Z")
Hell no.
It’s about the journey, not the destination.
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### Author:  [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2013, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bookworms-do-you-do-what-levar-burton-does/675949/8 "2013-12-10T03:38:56Z")
Wow, that’s the most counterintuitive thing I’ve ever heard! When I first read Tom Clancy’s The Sum of All Fears, when it came close to the bomb going off I literally held an index card over the page and slid it down line by line so as to not spoil even a single sentence!!
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2013, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bookworms-do-you-do-what-levar-burton-does/675949/9 "2013-12-10T03:42:30Z")
I do it accidentally sometimes (like, I flip to the last page just to see exactly how many pages there are, and then my eye just naturally scans in the text), but I wish I wouldn’t. I like to be surprised by the ending.
One thing that happened once that I _really_ enjoyed, was when I thought I still had three or four chapters left in a book, and was caught completely off-guard when it suddenly ended (the remainder of the pages being appendices).
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### Author:  [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2013, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bookworms-do-you-do-what-levar-burton-does/675949/10 "2013-12-10T03:44:50Z")
And why is it important for a book to come out well? Books that end depressingly bad can be good reads too.
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### Author:  [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2013, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bookworms-do-you-do-what-levar-burton-does/675949/11 "2013-12-10T03:50:06Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#):
>
> And why is it important for a book to come out well? Books that end depressingly bad can be good reads too.
No one says coming out well = happy.
And I find the journey just as fun- frankly in a good book I’m so engrossed that I usually don’t even remember I’d read the ending! The journey sweeps me along.
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### Author:  [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2013, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bookworms-do-you-do-what-levar-burton-does/675949/12 "2013-12-10T03:56:25Z")
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> I do it accidentally sometimes (like, I flip to the last page just to see exactly how many pages there are, and then my eye just naturally scans in the text), but I wish I wouldn’t. I like to be surprised by the ending.
>
> ).
This. It’s not the worst thing in the world, but I’d rather it happened less frequently. I find it happens a lot if there is an appendix that’s like maps, a family tree, or a glossary that I might be flipping to while reading.
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### Author:  [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2013, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bookworms-do-you-do-what-levar-burton-does/675949/13 "2013-12-10T03:58:41Z")
> [@Hail\_Ants](#):
>
> Wow, that’s the most counterintuitive thing I’ve ever heard! When I first read Tom Clancy’s The Sum of All Fears, when it came close to the bomb going off I literally held an index card over the page and slid it down line by line so as to not spoil even a single sentence!!
Since Clancy took literally a whole chapter to describe the few microseconds of the bomb going off that must have been one long line by line reading…
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### Author:  [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2013, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bookworms-do-you-do-what-levar-burton-does/675949/14 "2013-12-10T03:59:00Z")
I never do it but my (soon-to-be-ex) wife would do it with every book.
The problem was then she lost all interest in reading them so she never actually read.
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2013, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bookworms-do-you-do-what-levar-burton-does/675949/15 "2013-12-10T04:02:13Z")
I used to do it all the time.
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### Author:  [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2013, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bookworms-do-you-do-what-levar-burton-does/675949/16 "2013-12-10T04:03:59Z")
Knowing the ending of the story [may actually increase your enjoyment](http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/thriving101/201108/the-spoiler-paradox) as you read the story.
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### Author:  [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2013, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bookworms-do-you-do-what-levar-burton-does/675949/17 "2013-12-10T04:06:31Z")
I skipped to the last post.
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### Author:  [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2013, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bookworms-do-you-do-what-levar-burton-does/675949/18 "2013-12-10T04:28:17Z")
the butler did it; each and every time.
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### Author:  [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2013, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bookworms-do-you-do-what-levar-burton-does/675949/19 "2013-12-10T04:31:35Z")
My wife does this. She really gets emotionally involved with books and films, and so not knowing how things end stresses her out while she’s reading. She’d rather know ahead of time.
> [@Hail\_Ants](#):
>
> Wow, that’s the most counterintuitive thing I’ve ever heard! When I first read Tom Clancy’s The Sum of All Fears, when it came close to the bomb going off I literally held an index card over the page and slid it down line by line so as to not spoil even a single sentence!!
I wish you’d made the trailer to the movie.
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2013, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bookworms-do-you-do-what-levar-burton-does/675949/20 "2013-12-10T04:37:09Z")
All the time, if for no other reason than to see if my favorite character(s) survive.
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