Friday
Sep282007
down with the forward
Friday, September 28, 2007 at 03:04PM
We're staying with Alison's folks for a few days here in Durham, NC. They have a ton of books, all over the place. I love it. I never bring anything to read, I just peruse until I find something interesting, and I'm rarely disappointed.
Last night I found G.K. Chesterton's "The Ball and the Cross" which I had bought a few years ago. I was really into it, probably halfway through, brought it on a plane and left it in the backseat pocket. Whoops.
I picked it up to start over last night, thrilled that I could finally finish (from the beginning) this book. And I made the mistake of reading a bit of the foreward.
So here's my question: Why do the people who write forwards always give away everything in the book? I don't like it. They should be at the end, like bonus features on a DVD. If you like the book then... "yeah! there's some more stuff about it right here!"
Just my two cents.
Oh, also, if you didn't read the interview I linked to a week or so ago, Infuze magazine is running the same interview again. CLICK HERE to read it.
Last night I found G.K. Chesterton's "The Ball and the Cross" which I had bought a few years ago. I was really into it, probably halfway through, brought it on a plane and left it in the backseat pocket. Whoops.
I picked it up to start over last night, thrilled that I could finally finish (from the beginning) this book. And I made the mistake of reading a bit of the foreward.
So here's my question: Why do the people who write forwards always give away everything in the book? I don't like it. They should be at the end, like bonus features on a DVD. If you like the book then... "yeah! there's some more stuff about it right here!"
Just my two cents.
Oh, also, if you didn't read the interview I linked to a week or so ago, Infuze magazine is running the same interview again. CLICK HERE to read it.
Reader Comments (9)
bummer about the forward. one of the reasons i never read them... that and shear laziness.
love the book though. i've got heretics on my nightstand now... it's an anotated edition, which is nice. helps to fill in some of the references from early 1900's england i don't really get when reading some of his works...
have you read manalive yet? one of my favorites...
btw... for those interested in reading some of chesterton's works, most of them are now in the public domain and available to read online :
http://www.cse.dmu.ac.uk/~mward/gkc/books/
you can also read a .pdf version of orthodoxy i made and put on my blog :
http://shaneblake.com/kudzu/orthodoxy.pdf
I hate that about forewards, too, and usually just read them after I've finished the book. The info in forewards should just be turned into epilogues.
yeah I don't read forwards...but every since i started seminary i haven't had time to do much reading other than for school -and the forwards for those books don't really spoil much; God wins...here's why.
I thought it was "foreword"...
it should just be fourword[s]: This book is [at this point insert adjective of choice...AMAING, Mediocre, Crap, ect]
I like that, Josh - either that or make it an "aftword".
Word...
I accidentally left something on a plane once. A plastic bag with two of my daughter's dirty cloth diapers. I called but the plane was already gone. Oops!
I feel the same way towards the blurb on the back cover. One very nearly ruined my first reading of The Two Towers.