I might read the ending if the tension gets to be too much. If I know how it ends, I can go back and enjoy the story, appreciate the writing, etc.
I’ve also done it when I lose interest in anything but the ending.
I’ll do it with movies too – go to Wiki and read the plot summary.
I’d never do such a thing . . . except now, I just read AuntiePam’s post.
I’ll flip to the last page to see how many pages there are, but I’ve trained myself not to look at the text. As soon as I’ve seen the page number, the book is closed.
I’ve never skipped to the end, but I have skipped paragraphs and pages.
I’ve only done this to reassure myself that the book actually ends, and isn’t a damned cliff-hanger. I’ve been stung by those, and I detest them with the violence of fire-ant stings and poison ivy rashes!
“The story will be continued in Mr. Stinkard’s sequel, ‘You Have Just Been Shafted, Ha Ha,’ available in July of some prime-numbered year not too long from now.”
Grr…
Otherwise, no, I would never skip ahead when reading. Just doesn’t seem cricket, somehow.
Depending on taste. I hate depressing endings; the only time I skip to the end of a book is if it becomes so depressing that I suspect it’ll end depressingly. And if it does I’ll stop reading it.
Actually, this is Dead Unicorn, and in reality the butler hardly ever did it, or, if he did, it is usually a parody.
If the book sucks halfway through to the point I need to see the ending before soldiering on then I’m done with it.
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.
Oh I do that too. I hate it when the author drolls on about something that is completely unimportant to the storyline.
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.
Most 19th century books would otherwise be completely unreadable; small wonder, given how many of their authors got paid by volume.
I skip long expositions when I find my attention wandering, but never to the end of the book.
Never. That would ruin it for me.
If I’m not liking a book, I don’t care what the ending is. It ends when I throw it across the room.
98% of the kind of books I read have upbeat endings. I can’t see it would benefit me any to already know where it ends*. I like to be surprised, where possible.
*Though I do enjoy re-reading books on occasion
I’ve been known to read the ending early.
I read a lot of romance. The ending of many romance novels is never in any doubt-- the details may vary, but whether the couple featured fall in love despite whatever artificial obstacles appear is not a concern. However, in many romance novels, there comes a point midway through, where the amount of angst the characters are suffering drives me a little nutty, and it’s nice to be reassured that they will eventually figure out that hot sex isn’t the only thing they’ve got going for them.
I may have done it at some point when I was younger, but I don’t think I ever thought about it as a general way to read books.
I do know that there are books and movies where knowing what’s going to happen at the end ruins the story, as the suspense is the only thing going for it, and the whole thing is rather boring otherwise. But I guess that wouldn’t have to be everything.
I don’t believe I’ve ever done that. I do re-read books all the time though so on subsequent readings I know how they’re going to end.
Never; I hate spoilers. I often avoid reading even back cover blurbs because they give too much away.
I also do this occasionally, when I’m in the middle of a really suspenseful part. What else are bookmarks for? 
Not with any regularity but I sometimes peek to the end. Or ahead. I’ve been known to read books occasionally out of order (although it’s more common for me to read entire series out of order. For example, the Potter series I read something like 4-2-1-3-5-6).
And, yeah, it’s about the journey not the destination, so that doesn’t bother me, and spoilers don’t bug me either for the same reason.
I used to read the last paragraph. I don’t now, less because of any purist notions and more because reading the last paragraph was rarely instructive.
I have been known, when someone “dies” to flip around the back half of the book a little and see if their name starts popping back up again.