I don't understand why authors would assume that people have read the book before. Think reading it once the book is finished is the way forward now.

Yeah, it definitely reads like it's for those who are familiar with the story. I'm definitely going to enjoy it anyway, I've read the likes of Jurrasic Park etc after seeing the film and still loved the books.

Yeah, I've not really come across many academic ones, but I feel like I'd give them a miss. If ots by the Author they're normally quite interesting.

Yeah, there's a bit of a spoiler but it's not gonna ruin the book. I think especially if they're by the Author it gives a good insight into how the ideas of the hook came about, 2001: A Space Odyssey had a good intro explaining how the book was written with the intention of being turned into a script

Yeah, to be fair I don't think I've come across many literary analysis', I probably would be more inclined to skip them.

I think this might be the way forward. Especially some of the classics, the intros seem to have an expectation that you know something of the story already.

I think my FOMO sets in, I don't want to skip over them.

Yeah, I'm normally the same, even if they're just a bit of background on how the book was written, it feels nice to know.