Bright Young Things discussion

I wondered what people's opinions are on two specific aspects of Project Gutenburg books:

1) How do people find reading a Project Gutenberg book without the benefit of the scholarly introduction that usually accompanies a classic printed book? Do you even read introductions anyway (and, incidentally, do you do it before or after you've read the book)?

2) Do you feel the inevitable typos detract from the message of the book or from your enjoyment of it enough for you to far prefer a commercially sold copy? Is this perhaps more of a factor in older books where a lot of words and phrases may be unknown to you?

Personally, I think Project Gutenberg is fantastic, a really noble venture, and I don't mean to criticise it unduly. Without it I wouldn't own and be mentally preparing to read hundreds of literary, philosophical and historical classics. But there is a part of me that feels that if I read a 'non-guessable' word that is typed wrongly, that error will stay with me and cause problems later. This happened, for example, while I was reading Gulliver's Travels, probably several times. I'm sure there's an element of catastrophising there, but it does bother me. Likewise, I seem to remember gaining a lot from reading introductions as a boy, and worry that if I subsequently buy a paper copy with an introduction I will not remember the book well enough to gain intellectually in the same way and may not have the time or inclination to reread it.

Now, having typed all that out, it seems like I may well be a bit over-anxious, but I'd be interested to hear what 'normality' is here.

I've yet to try any Project Gutenberg books, however will, and then report back. Thanks for the prompt.

I love project gutenberg but I don't like reading online so I use it slightly differently. I tend to read a chapter or two to decide whether it's worth reading and then look for a cheap hard copy or a second hand copy.

1) I do like the introductions in books but tend to read them at the end rather than the beginning. I would miss them if I were to read a whole PG book.

2) Commercially produced does not always guarantee no typos! - it doesn't bother me loads but can sometimes be jarring and make you concentrate on the error rather than getting lost in the book.

No one owns public domain books.
Everyone is welcome to submit typo reports to gutenberg.org. See http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Gutenbe... for the relevant email address and recommendations about reporting issues.

I'm not bothered by typos or the lack of introductions. Introductions are too often pretentious, spoilerific or simply wrong.
I've got other nitpicks with gutenberg.org, chiefly their abiding by US law. The works of authors such as Lovecraft have been in the public domain for the longest time here.
But obviously my nitpicks don't change the fact that gutenberg.org is doing great work.