Thoughtful Thursday: Reading Acknowledgements?

Every book has an acknowledgement written by the author. But since it's an extra part of the book and often has nothing to do with the main content of the book, it's usually skipped. Do I read acknowledgements? Well, not often.

When will I actually read acknowledgements? Only when the author who has written this is one of my all-time favorites. I mean, sometimes(though not often) you can see a glimpse of what the author's really thinking when reading acknowledgements. And sometimes acknowledgements can be really hilarious. But all these cases doesn't happen a lot. In fact I skip most of the words while skimming through the pages of acknowledgements. But at least I know some of the contents about it.

Sometimes I will skip all the contents of the acknowledgements. Either that is a book that I thoroughly don't enjoy or I have nearly no profound thoughts about the book. For some reason reading acknowledgements in a book that I don't like only annoys me more. And of course I don't care about reading acknowledgements in a book that I have nearly no feelings about.

Even the format of the book affects the chance of me reading acknowledgements. Yeah, that sounds weird. But I have this... reading habit. If that's a book that I can actually hold with my hands (i.e. paperback or hardcover), the chances are smaller. It's just that when there's a "to-be-continued" or "the-end" blank, I will instinctively close the book and not pay any attention to whatever after the final page of the story. But there are two exceptions in which the chances of me reading it are higher. First is the book having a sneak peek of a sequel or a new installment after the end of the story. Normally you can't help but (at least) skim through the acknowledgement contents. Second is it being placed before the story starts. Again you can't help but at least skim through those pages. That doesn't apply to e-books, though, because I can just skip it by clicking "chapter one" on my e-book reader.

If it's a e-book, than the chances might be higher. Because normally after reading the main story, I won't just close the e-reader but skim through the rest of the pages and might actually read acknowledgements. Especially when there's a sneak peek after the end of the main story. But if the acknowledgement is placed before the story starts... well, like I said, I will totally skip it.

Do you read acknowledgements? If so/not, why?