fox@fury
Amazon’s final message to its creation
Friday, Jul 17, 2009 @ 12:50pm

I bought The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy for my Kindle several months ago, and I recently got an email from Amazon:

We’ve been made aware of an issue with the title ‘The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy’ by Douglas Adams. We worked to correct the issue and have sent a new version of the title to your Kindle.

The next time the wireless is activated on your device, the new version of ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’ will be sent to your Kindle.

While not as Orwellian as Amazon’s recent revoking of Animal Farm and 1984, it’s still a bit odd to have Amazon reach into my book and fiddle with the words. I’m saving my current version so that I can track what change was important enough to retcon the book.

That said, the slightly disturbing message from Amazon is tempered by either coincidence or a tremendously witty Douglas Adams fan, as the letter closes with

We apologize for the inconvenience

which, in the Hitchhiker’s universe, is also God’s final message to his creation.

I think I feel good about it.


Also on Fury: Are Amazon’s book revocations legal?

Aboutme

Hi, I'm Kevin Fox.
I've been blogging at Fury.com since 1998.
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As a user experience designer for Google, I led the design of Gmail 1.0, Google Calendar 1.0, and Google Reader 2.0. I currently design for FriendFeed.

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All my opinions are my own. Any alignment with the opinions of others is entirely coincidental.

©2010 Kevin Fox

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