I kind of understand the point, to talk about the impact a piece of writing has had. But they always talk about significant plot points and themes which I don't want to know before I've read the book!
This was triggered by the introduction to Animal Farm, which I haven't read before (I know). First the dude describes in detail the physical appearance of the English teacher that introduced him to the book, then starts talking about the characters which is when I skipped it. I mean what's the point?
If anything it should be an afterword. I'll probably treat them like that moving forward, read them after finishing the book as a sort of epilogue.
by Calneon