Who else does this?

Noooo! I don't know why anyone would do that...

No, no, no, no,

My husband does! He says he doesn't know if a book is worth reading unless he knows the ending. Luckily, we don't read the same books, because I'd have to divorce him if we'd did.

My husband always wants to talk about a book he has read before me. Now I make sure I read it first. We both re-read books, him because he likes to know the ending, me because I can't remember the ending

I don't even read the back of the book, I usually open a few pages at random to see if I like the way it is written, if it sounds okay I then read the first page. I take ages in the library!

I can't imagine reading the last page first - chances are it doesn't actually give the plot away anyway but it just seems pointless. I usually read the reviews online or the synopsis of the plot but that's all.

Definitely not!
I've started a book about Syria and was thinking today that it's depressing to know it won't have a happy ending (as it's factual).

Surely it must utterly ruin the whole thing!

My DM used to read the newspaper backwards .

I read half of the newspaper at breakfast and the other half after morning coffee.

However I never read the last page of a book first.

That is just wrong !!

Not just me then? ;)
I thought it was odd but she explained she gets anxious and she doesn't like being surprised or shocked and she can't relax (whole point of reading) if she doesn't know who's going to 'make it' to the end. Odd, but each to their own I suppose!

I too do get strong urges to just take a quick peek at the last page or sometimes the last chapter. I put it down to it being a well written book in which I may have identified with one of the characters & have become so absorbed, that I just can't bear not knowing if everyone is ok !

If you're anxious about what happens in a novel,it would make more sense to read a number of reviews first.

You are right Fishpieplease, but logic doesn't seem to come in to it, I'm exactly the same when watching films ( although I do resist the fast forward button ) I avidly read the short synopsis of all the soaps & drama series hoping to gleam a glimmer of happiness for the'goodies' & well deserved'p just desserts' for the baddies , pathetic I know but I just can't help my self !

Ditto what norose4 said about films!
If there is a twist at the end of a film, resulting in, for example, the unexpected death of the hero / goody, I regret having watched the film at all, and would prefer to have known in advance in order to be mentally prepared.
For some reason, books don't affect me quite as much in this way, so i am less inclined to try to find out in avance how a novel ends, but i can understand perfectly what others might!

I used to always read the last bit first but I don't now however I did also always read the newspaper backwards but don't have papers now

I certainly do it. I need to understand where a book (novel) is going before I start reading it, otherwise I find it utterly confusing because I cannot sort the incidents in it out; to know what is important or significant and what isn't and I just get bogged down in a morass of incidents which I cannot differentiate between.

With factual books, and most of my reading is factual, I do not read the last chapter, but I do spend a long time reading the cover blurb, and all the scramble egg at the front, Index to chapters, pictures, maps, diagrams etc, authors preface etc.

I think I like to understand the landscape of a book before I start reading it, using a map rather than satnav.

Nope, never! A book is an experience, be it sad, happy, harrowing, weird, wonderful.Just start it and go on reading....that's the only satisfying way to read a book and tbh I thought that everybody did that ( obviously not.) ?

I often read the end of a book so I can relax and enjoy the narrative. My GD did the same with picture books when she was three. My mother likes to know the end of films and books too. I thought this was normal

I guess it just depends on how the story is grabbing me. If it's somehow dragging and I think I can guess the outcome I have been known to take a peek. If I'm correct, I may then discard the book or if wrong I might soldier on to discover the twist. On reflection, I maybe shouldn't be reading the particular book at all if I am ever tempted. Change of practice required here methinks!

I don't check the end of a book unless I am really not enjoying it, and just want to finish with it, put it aside and read something else. But I do read magazines backwards, always have, not sure why!

Sacrilege!! Although I have been known to 'just check' to see if a particular (usually favourite) character survives...

It would never occur to me to read the last page first, but what I do do, is to plough stoically on to the last page even if I am not enjoying idt!
That's worse really, as it is wasting my time, but totally illogically I feel guilty if I even think about giving up on a book. I must have wasted years of my life doing this as I always have/ need a book to read.

Rosesarered's post says it all for me.
When my neighbour told me she always looked at the back page, I couldn't believe it - thought she must be a one off but apparently not.