Any fiction that can’t stand up to spoilers isn’t worth reading. I would never recommend fiction that I haven’t reread, often many times—I’d rather reread a good (or even fair) book for relaxation than get irritated trying to read something that drags. And if you’re not reading it for relaxation, textbooks are better than any fiction.
If the story poses a puzzle for the reader, and the solution to the puzzle is given further down the plot, then spoilers can in fact reduce the enjoyability of the story. In Death Note, you can actually discover the flaw in the character’s plan yourself if you pause the video and and think for a bit (although it helps that the protagonist’s intelligence is a bit...uneven. Most real people aren’t simultaneously stupid and smart like that). It’s also fun to arrive at the best possible strategy for each character...it’s pretty satisfying when you and the character independently arrive at the same conclusion.
This only applies to very tightly written stories of course.
Agree that fiction that relies solely on spoilers isn’t worth reading. Though I would not concur that textbooks are better than any fiction. Unless school has gotten waaaaaay better than I remember.
If you are not reading for relaxation, then you are probably reading for information; in that sense textbooks are better than fiction, since they have better presentation of the information in them.
Any fiction that can’t stand up to spoilers isn’t worth reading. I would never recommend fiction that I haven’t reread, often many times—I’d rather reread a good (or even fair) book for relaxation than get irritated trying to read something that drags. And if you’re not reading it for relaxation, textbooks are better than any fiction.
If the story poses a puzzle for the reader, and the solution to the puzzle is given further down the plot, then spoilers can in fact reduce the enjoyability of the story. In Death Note, you can actually discover the flaw in the character’s plan yourself if you pause the video and and think for a bit (although it helps that the protagonist’s intelligence is a bit...uneven. Most real people aren’t simultaneously stupid and smart like that). It’s also fun to arrive at the best possible strategy for each character...it’s pretty satisfying when you and the character independently arrive at the same conclusion.
This only applies to very tightly written stories of course.
Agree that fiction that relies solely on spoilers isn’t worth reading. Though I would not concur that textbooks are better than any fiction. Unless school has gotten waaaaaay better than I remember.
If you are not reading for relaxation, then you are probably reading for information; in that sense textbooks are better than fiction, since they have better presentation of the information in them.