Definitely a "journey" vs "destination" thing going on here. If you're interested in finding how a novel ends, of course you can skip to the back; but hardly anyone does that, because it's the process of reaching there that's the important (and supposed to be enjoyable) part. So if it's not an enjoyable process, it's worth questioning what social ideas of "worthiness" are leading you to press on with it. Doubly so with "classic" books, where you might need to read a whole other chunk of canon to have the proper context for understanding why this book is supposed to be good in the first place. Or you need to skip some bits that have aged badly.
For non-fiction, it's worth separating books which sincerely have a thesis and supporting arguments from books which are trying to sell you an idea, even (especially) if it's an idea you really want to hear.
There is no longer a "canon" that you can expect everyone to have read; the world is far too big and contains too many people, books, cultures and ideas.
(For youtube videos, when I'm trying to get information on something, I employ a "rule of third": just drop the slider a third of the way in and skip all the personal introduction and setup, to see if this video might actually get to the point.)
The point is that if you're not enjoying the journey, you skip to the end and take out the "I need to get to the destination" motivation for finishing. I do this all the time: if the book is getting tedious, I prevent myself from compulsively finishing it by "giving away the end" to myself.
I do the opposite. If I'm finding the novel a slog, I'll read the Wikipedia synopsis. If the payoff seems worth it, I'll keep going - I think that most novels where a "twist" isn't the only selling point are worth reading even if you know the plot.
(And if the payoff doesn't, I drop the book. That's what I did with Mieville's Embassytown at the 50% mark.)
>(For youtube videos, when I'm trying to get information on something, I employ a "rule of third": just drop the slider a third of the way in and skip all the personal introduction and setup, to see if this video might actually get to the point.)
Rather than skip to the end, googling plot summaries (for popular books) and or other summaries like Cliff's Notes (for classics) are also really useful.
If you don't care about spoilers (and if you're considering just dropping the book, why would you care?), you can get a good idea of "what happens" and see if you are interested enough in the "journey" to bother with the "destination."
For non-fiction, it's worth separating books which sincerely have a thesis and supporting arguments from books which are trying to sell you an idea, even (especially) if it's an idea you really want to hear.
There is no longer a "canon" that you can expect everyone to have read; the world is far too big and contains too many people, books, cultures and ideas.
(For youtube videos, when I'm trying to get information on something, I employ a "rule of third": just drop the slider a third of the way in and skip all the personal introduction and setup, to see if this video might actually get to the point.)