There's a post on arstechnia I read via the blog-vine (like the grapevine, but I don't actually know any of these people, I just read their words) arguing that we'd all enjoy books more if we read the last five pages first. (I'm being glib).

Before I start talking about this, I'll make mention of the fact that I know people who read the last few pages to make sure the book ends on a happy note before they read it. They're especially sensitive to things they read and watch, and at times don't want to risk falling into the blues just from reading the wrong book. That's their lookout, and while it is related to what we're talking about here, I don't think it's really the same thing. But anyway:

The study took university students and had them read twelve literary short stories with a variety of spoiledness - no spoilers, spoilers hidden in the text and overt spoilers before the text. And apparently the students enjoyed the stories more when they knew what the ending was.

The argument is that the suspense of not knowing if it'll be a sad/bad/dark ending detracts from our enjoyment, that our brain doesn't actually like surprises, and feels more embarrassed and irritated that it didn't predict things properly.

Okay, maybe. But I still get really annoyed if you tell me how a movie's going to go. (Most of the time. If I suspect it's Hollywood popcorn fill-in-the-blanks, I don't care because there isn't a single plot event that isn't telegraphed beforehand.)

I think there are some significant flaws in their study. For one thing, they used literature, which as a rule is enjoyed more on the second or third reading, because often you spend the first reading figuring out what the hell is going on. Hiding the 'twist' isn't the point of literature - the point is usually communicating something about the human condition or philosophy, and there's no real need for withheld information. (Also, even classic literature that does depend on withheld information is almost always so well written in the first place that there are other things to enjoy anyway.)

Note there's no mention of horror, mystery, thriller, crime or any similar genre where the aim of the story is something else entirely - it's basically a guess-the-blank, and once you know the blank, it becomes a rather condescending exercise to watch how the author hides the twist for x-hundred pages before the reveal. Knowing who the killer is, what the monster is, how to stop the nuclear war renders a lot of the preceding pages moot.

I'll admit, as a writer, when I'm watching stories I'm usually playing the formulas in my head. Right, he's either there to give the story an emotional connection to his son, or he's some kind of secret agent betrayal guy. Oh, he spilled the coffee, if he does anything shifty now, he's - nope, okay, he really is there to find his son, which means the plan has to go wrong on the inside, which means it'll all go well until the last minute, so they only thing that can go wrong at that point is the device doesn't work properly...

It used to annoy me that my brain did that. Now it's just become part of how I watch and read, and I enjoy the challenge of working out the puzzle 'real time' and noting the cleverness of echoed themes and arcs within the story. 

There are two kinds of surprises for me, in a story. There's the left-field surprise, where a (usually less-experienced) writer has grinned to himself and said "Hah, they'll never see THIS coming!" and run a steam engine through the herd of water buffalo. No groundwork laid, no respect of structure or form or misdirection, just HELLO I AM A SURPRISE ENDING that doesn't make sense. Sunshine does this partway through, where we jump tracks from a suspenseful, emotive, atmospheric sci-fi to a slasher-monster flick. No explanation, no development, just RARGH!

Not a fan of those.  I'm not a fan of weevils in my salad, either and for pretty much the same reason. But when a writer has done their misdirection exceptionally well, the surprise works. It falls within the formula, makes perfect sense, but all predictions indicated something else - I love those. They make me want to take my hat off and applaud. The writer has controlled what they'll reveal so well whilst laying the foundations for their real solution with such subtlety they're not even noticed. It's very rare, and it's a sign of exceptional skill.

Peeking at the end would cheat me of that, really - it's like pretending to work out the maths problem when you have the answer right there. I can guess "yeah, I probably wouldn't have seen that coming, well done", but there isn't the sense of amazement and wonder at the revelation. There might be some enjoyment in looking at how the author got there, what they were carefully hiding and revealing, but unless it's an author / story that I know I enjoy for other reasons, most of the fun is gone.

Your mileage may vary. But I reserve the right to snark at you for spoiling stories.