To ask if you read the acknowledgements at the end of a book

[saveforthat]

Just finished a book on kindle. Only 59% of the book was complete. I thought something had gone wrong but no...the rest of the pages are acknowledgements nearly half the book! I never read these, does anyone?

My husband and I always watch the end credits. We have a bit of a running joke where we say things about random people as if we know them, like: 'Oh, Simon Jones was the assistant location set designer - no wonder the location set was so well designed!'

Yes, the long winter evenings fly by in our house!

I skim them; usually read the first sentence of the paragraph. I enjoy seeing where they got their research, but don't need to see the names of every person that worked at the publishing house.

41% of the book !!!!

I assumed you meant a sentence saying 'Thanks to my lovely wife for her patience, and to Bob for his proofreading', which I might manage, but 41% !!!
No, I wouldn't.

I read them avidly, mostly to see if I recognise any names, as I work in publishing.

Acks can't make up more than a few pages. Do you mean the rest are endnotes, references and bibliography?? That's a huge % of the book...

I did once for a book I really enjoyed

Where they blab on about their agent and their publisher and their wife Susan and their writing group?

No.

I like when there's an explanatory bit on some historical context though. I read those.

Never.

I normally always do but I wouldn't read 41% of the book of acknowledgments. That's way too much. A couple of pages yes but not much more than that

No, because they are just lists of people I have never heard of and am not interested in. I often google the author to find out about their background.

No. They are tedious and self absorbed. There's nothing interesting in reading a list of names.

I've been mentioned in the acknowledgments of a few books!

🤣🤣🤣

They sometimes read them out in audiobooks. Sometimes they're really interesting or funny, I think I enjoyed the acknowledgements of Rachel's Holiday more than the actual book! Sometimes unbelievably dull (but if you're driving you're stuck with it.) Troubled Blood has a full copyright section for all the lyrics in it at the end (I assume it's a condition of their being in the book) but it's more than 5 minutes of xxx by yyy copyright by xxx and permission by yyy.

I don't. I really don't care

I didn't, but then a colleague of DH spotted a book on our bookshelf and commented how nice it was that the author had thanked DH for his input. We'd had no idea.

Maybe glance once in a while but not often. I'm there for entertainment not the gushing thank you's and boring rambling. Same reason I don't watch the Oscar's etc.

I don't think I've known enough people in my life to fill half a book's worth of acknowledgements. I'd be down to thanking the people who keep the streets clean that I drove to the shop on to buy the apparently necessary gallons of coffee, and the doctor who reset my elbow twenty years ago allowing me to sit comfortably for long periods typing.

Just flicked through. It's not all acknowledgements, it does include bibliography etc but even so this is a lot. There is an appendix in the middle of this part which is actually quite useful and should have been sited before the acknowledgements as a lot of people would miss it. For anyone interested the book is Breathe by James Nestor.

Respect! I managed a couple of chapters.

Agree with watching the film credits, I always think of how pleased the crew must be to see their names onscreen.

We watched Emma on Netflix and sat through the music afterwards, but the credits weren't on the screen, it was just showing an advert of the next film to watch. I felt cheated!

I rarely read them, especially the gushingly nauseating ones. I absolutely fucking LOATHE the 'shout outs' at the end of Popmaster as well and have been known to turn them off. My husband always jokes that he'll go on Popmaster and then shout out to everyone he's ever met "except my wife as she hates this bit" It just gives me massive cringe.

Yes I do. Sometimes it can be really interesting to see who knows and works with who. I read the Monica Ali book Live Marriage and in the acknowledgements it states that all the medical information was provided by her friend Adam Kay- of This is going to Hurt.. I am intrigued by the connectivity.