# 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:** 3
### Author:  [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2013, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bookworms-do-you-do-what-levar-burton-does/675949/41 "2013-12-10T14:17:07Z")
Yes, I do it. :o
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2013, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bookworms-do-you-do-what-levar-burton-does/675949/42 "2013-12-10T15:13:30Z")
> [@Swamp\_Adder](#):
>
> Never; I hate spoilers. I often avoid reading even back cover blurbs because they give too much away.
Whereas I, OTOH, actively seek them out. I fucking **hate** surprises. I also as a general rule dislike downer endings in my entertainment. Ambiguous is fine, but working my way through 500 pages of a book or two hours of a movie just to have anybody I cared about die without meaning is a waste of my time.
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### Author:  [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2013, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bookworms-do-you-do-what-levar-burton-does/675949/43 "2013-12-10T15:37:58Z")
I actually do this a lot.
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### Author:  [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2013, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bookworms-do-you-do-what-levar-burton-does/675949/44 "2013-12-10T15:40:15Z")
No, I would never deliberately read the ending first. But I occasionally re-read books, and experience a different kind of pleasure when I already know the ending.
I do check the end of the book to make sure there isn’t an excerpt or something included. I hate to run up on the ending of a story unexpectedly, when I thought I had a couple of chapters left to go. Ebooks are bad about this - the novel will end at the 96% mark because there is extra stuff at the end. Once I thought I was reading a really long book, only to find out that the ebook came with a whole bonus novel.
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### Author:  [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2013, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bookworms-do-you-do-what-levar-burton-does/675949/45 "2013-12-10T15:43:22Z")
I don’t do it as a matter of course but I’m not bothered by it happening.
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### Author:  [@peedin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peedin)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2013, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bookworms-do-you-do-what-levar-burton-does/675949/46 "2013-12-10T16:09:28Z")
I do with almost every fiction book I read. I love spoilers and I have to know if the book turns out happy. If it doesn’t, I don’t continue to read. However, I did not read the last pages of the final Harry Potter book and it just about killed me.
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### Author:  [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2013, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bookworms-do-you-do-what-levar-burton-does/675949/47 "2013-12-10T16:12:25Z")
> [@Miller](#):
>
> As pointed out above, a “good” ending is not the same thing as a “happy” ending. _Hamlet_ has a good ending. It does not, by any metric\*, have a happy ending.
>
> \*Unless you’re Fortinbras, I guess.
Yes, but without the context of everything that happened before how can you have any idea whether the ending (regardless of upbeat, downbeat, or other) is a good one or a bad one?
That’s kind of my question on this, what is actually meant by skipping to the last page? I’d imagine that for most books, literally reading the last page isn’t going to really provide much information and then for each end page you add to it you’ve got the issue of needing more context to understand what it all means. I can see some value if all you want to know is whether a character lived (though even that would be spotty as perhaps the page before where you started reading the end reveals that this information is all just a dream by the lone survivor) or whodunnit in a mystery.
Honestly, it has never really occurred to me that even if I had an interest in checking out the last couple pages that it would produce any meaningful information for me.
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### Author:  [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2013, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bookworms-do-you-do-what-levar-burton-does/675949/48 "2013-12-10T16:17:02Z")
Never ever never. It would never occur to me.
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### Author:  [@BlackKnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlackKnight)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2013, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bookworms-do-you-do-what-levar-burton-does/675949/49 "2013-12-10T16:25:26Z")
Out of curiosity, does anyone ever skip to the last scene of a movie before watching the rest of the film? I’ve heard of people reading the last page of a book, but never of anyone skipping to the end of a film.
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### Author:  [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2013, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bookworms-do-you-do-what-levar-burton-does/675949/50 "2013-12-10T16:38:09Z")
> [@obfusciatrist](#):
>
> Yes, but without the context of everything that happened before how can you have any idea whether the ending (regardless of upbeat, downbeat, or other) is a good one or a bad one?
>
> That’s kind of my question on this, what is actually meant by skipping to the last page? I’d imagine that for most books, literally reading the last page isn’t going to really provide much information and then for each end page you add to it you’ve got the issue of needing more context to understand what it all means. I can see some value if all you want to know is whether a character lived (though even that would be spotty as perhaps the page before where you started reading the end reveals that this information is all just a dream by the lone survivor) or whodunnit in a mystery.
>
> Honestly, it has never really occurred to me that even if I had an interest in checking out the last couple pages that it would produce any meaningful information for me.
I don’t do it for spoilers or to know the ending. It’s a little ritual I started when I was young that I enjoy. I read the last few sentences or so. Those few sentences rarely carry significant spoilers, ultimately.
Even if they do, in movies or books, spoilers don’t generally diminish my enjoyment. I get so lost in the moment that I get carried along with the story. Often I forget what I read at the end because the book has become so engrossing. Other times I wonder how the author is going to drive the plot to get me to whatever I read at the end and I’m excited to take the journey with the author to see how it unfolds. This is a big part- I’ll read along wondering how in the heck will the book wrap up the way I saw and enjoy finding out.
I hardly think it’s an immaturity on my part (as another poster suggested). It’s not that I can’t handle a story if I don’t know a little bit of the ending, but sometimes knowing a bit of the ending makes it more fun. Obviously, I don’t see any harm in those who choose not to do this. 😉
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### Author:  [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2013, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bookworms-do-you-do-what-levar-burton-does/675949/51 "2013-12-10T18:39:43Z")
I do it sometimes, depending on the book or how vested I am in a character. Sometimes I will just flip through to see if a character’s name is still showing up in the pages near the end. I’ve never stopped reading a book because of what I discovered, but sometimes it has made it easier to keep reading.
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### Author:  [@Moonlitherial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonlitherial)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2013, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bookworms-do-you-do-what-levar-burton-does/675949/52 "2013-12-10T18:47:53Z")
It’s never occured to me to read the end of the book first but I do re-read books regularly and it is a different experience. (Sometimes anyway, I do have a terrible memory)
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### Author:  [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)
#### Post date: [December 11, 2013, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bookworms-do-you-do-what-levar-burton-does/675949/53 "2013-12-11T03:50:15Z")
> [@BlackKnight](#):
>
> Out of curiosity, does anyone ever skip to the last scene of a movie before watching the rest of the film? I’ve heard of people reading the last page of a book, but never of anyone skipping to the end of a film.
I’ve been banned from a couple of cinemas for insisting on this.
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### Author:  [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)
#### Post date: [December 11, 2013, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bookworms-do-you-do-what-levar-burton-does/675949/54 "2013-12-11T03:58:24Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#):
>
> Hell no. That makes absolutely no sense to me. I can’t imagine why you would ever choose to spoil the end to a story before you read it. There’s something that just seems so immature about doing that, like you can’t handle reading something unless you know it ends with happy rainbows and sunshine.
Rubbish. Wanting a happy ending has nothing at all to do with it, at least not for me. I like to slow down and read each word and if I am wondering about some specific thing, like if the hero survives or not, or finds the killer, or anything, then I start skipping and readingrealfast and I don’t enjoy it. So I peek and then go back and read slowly and enjoy it. Even if it has an unhappy ending. (I have read most books I enjoyed at least twice and some many more times than that. And most of what I read are “mysteries”.)
Or what **Frylock** said.
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### Author:  [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)
#### Post date: [December 11, 2013, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bookworms-do-you-do-what-levar-burton-does/675949/55 "2013-12-11T04:28:41Z")
> [@kayT](#):
>
> Rubbish. Wanting a happy ending has nothing at all to do with it, at least not for me. I like to slow down and read each word and if I am wondering about some specific thing, like if the hero survives or not, or finds the killer, or anything, **then I start skipping and readingrealfast** and I don’t enjoy it. So I peek and then go back and read slowly and enjoy it. Even if it has an unhappy ending. (I have read most books I enjoyed at least twice and some many more times than that. And most of what I read are “mysteries”.)
>
> Or what **Frylock** said.
Just to play Devil’s advocate: Lack of restraint, or in this particular case, the ability to keep reading like you normally would, is a marker of immaturity. “Patience is a virtue” so to speak.
I’m not passing judgement, I’m just saying one could easily argue that.
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [December 11, 2013, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bookworms-do-you-do-what-levar-burton-does/675949/56 "2013-12-11T04:30:09Z")
> [@BlackKnight](#):
>
> Out of curiosity, does anyone ever skip to the last scene of a movie before watching the rest of the film? I’ve heard of people reading the last page of a book, but never of anyone skipping to the end of a film.
Not purposely, but I’ve often caught the end of a movie on TV only to watch the beginning and rest of it later.
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### Author:  [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)
#### Post date: [December 11, 2013, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bookworms-do-you-do-what-levar-burton-does/675949/57 "2013-12-11T05:04:24Z")
I’ve done this, but I don’t do it all that often. Not sure what makes me do it but I’ve never found it to ruin the enjoyment of the book.
Usually I only go for the last line, and that can sometimes be misleading. The most memorable example for me was _Brave New World_, in which I thought it was a description of stumbling in random directions, the character having run off into the wilderness.
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### Author:  [@AppallingGael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AppallingGael)
#### Post date: [December 11, 2013, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bookworms-do-you-do-what-levar-burton-does/675949/58 "2013-12-11T05:53:20Z")
Totally. Every once in a while I’ll come across a real gem like “It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to, than I have ever known”, that I would never have got to otherwise.
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### Author:  [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)
#### Post date: [December 11, 2013, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bookworms-do-you-do-what-levar-burton-does/675949/59 "2013-12-11T12:32:09Z")
> [@Shakes](#):
>
> Just to play Devil’s advocate: Lack of restraint, or in this particular case, the ability to keep reading like you normally would, is a marker of immaturity. “Patience is a virtue” so to speak.
>
> I’m not passing judgement, I’m just saying one could easily argue that.
It’s not lack of restraint.
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### Author:  [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)
#### Post date: [December 11, 2013, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bookworms-do-you-do-what-levar-burton-does/675949/60 "2013-12-11T13:43:43Z")
My wife does this, and I will never understand it. The thing is too, she only reads romance novels. I can read the back cover of the book with the story’s premise and tell her exactly how it’s going to end. But she always reads the first few pages, then the end, then starts over.
Then again when we watch movies together that I’ve already seen she’s always begging me to tell her what’s going to happen and how it will end. She gets mad when I say “maybe if we keep watching we’ll find out!”
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