Arts Technica posts about an odd change to a version Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace — someone who purchased a version for the Barnes and Noble e-reader, the Nook, found that the word “kindled” had been replaced by “Nookd”. An example:
An astute reader named Philip broke the story on his blog, noting that his reading of the classic was interrupted by the sentence “It was as if a light had been Nookd in a carved and painted lantern…” The blogger noticed more and more uses of the word “Nookd,” leading him to examine a paper copy to find a more accurate translation that used the word “kindled” instead.
Arts Technica is guessing that the publisher is to blame, although “blame” is a harsh word for something so clearly great. I want them to go further. Next version of War and Peace needs to have some Chuck/Subway-style product placement. Suddenly, a bunch of cats like Pierre Bezukhov are very excited that Doritos have brought their First through Third Degree Burn chips to Russia.
Surprised they didn’t just change the title of the book to “KINDLE PRESENTS: WAR AND PEACE.”