To be annoyed when Kindle edits my books

[AlertCat]

I like to read books I enjoy over and over. I get to know the phrases and reading them is comforting and soothing. I recently re-read an old favourite (published in the 90s) on my kindle, and a lot of the more colourful phrases and terms have been removed. Sometimes for no good reason, eg they’re not offensive in any world; and sometimes their removal took something away from what was left.

I wish I had a paper copy of this book to read ☹️
the changes feel jarring and I can’t see the point- but more importantly, I bought the original, and Amazon have altered what I bought without notice.

I'm glad now I never got a Kindle after considering it for a while.

Re-writing history is a slippery slope.

I also think it's not necessarily a bad thing to be upset by content. Makes you think and challenge things, right? And, I'm speaking as someone with PTSD who might get triggered by one certain thing.

I'm all for you being able to look up trigger warnings online, or there being a sticker on the book to warn people, I suppose, and I think it's good to have sensitive versions of books available for those who want or need them, but I don't think it should be the default. I want to read what the author intended, even if I might find some of it outdated and offensive.

I wouldn't let that put you off. I love mine. I can change the size of the font for easier reading; it's waterproof which is great for the bath; it's more comfortable to hold one-handed; you can store thousands of books on it which is ideal for travel. Sure, it's not perfect, but I wouldn't be without it.

"I don’t believe that ordinary people buying a book for pleasure reading with no expectation of doing the above should be confronted by offensive and harmful language or narrative."

Absolutely disagree.

Reading opens up my world, has done since I was a child, challenging my thoughts and assumptions. I lived a very sheltered existence, with little understanding of what happened to other people in other places.

Almost everything would be 'offensive and harmful language and narrative' to someone from a conservative and religious background like mine - but it was what allowed me to expand my world view and understanding of other people and other lives.

Yeah exactly. If something was deliberately written to portray something upsetting, and does so using offensive language, it was done that way for a reason. If something is old and only has harmful ideas and/or offensive language from a modern perspective (though at the time it was acceptable), why would we want to erase all evidence of what we've moved away from? It's useful to see it there in black and white and notice how it feels.

And yep, no issue with providing access to detailed information, though I'd prefer it to be something that has to be deliberately accessed, as content warnings often contain significant spoilers or affect how you approach the work, and my eyes will automatically read whole chunks of anything I happen to inadvertently glance at.

I've no problem with the theoretical existence of, I dunno, Heinlein with all the drugs and weird perverted sex cut out (I mean, it would just be an expensive notepad at that point, but still), if there are people who really want that, but I'm with you that it shouldn't be the default.

With Kindle v Books - you can do both!

I actually think it's quite dangerous and Big Brother territory for some unknown powers-that-be to be able to edit things out. Leaves scope for editing out all sorts of things. Political ideas? Social ideas? I don't think we should edit history just because someone somewhere might find it offensive or upsetting.

I remember enjoying Enid Blyton Famous Five books as a child. Where the boys said "George, you're as good as a boy", my mum just said that when the books were written, girls were sometimes seen as lesser than boys and it was thought girls couldn't be brave and have adventures. And wasn't that silly, and how good that things have changed. If it was just edited out, I'd never have come across that interesting element of history. And perhaps been less able to spot when things are sliding back in that direction!

I actually think it's quite dangerous and Big Brother territory for some unknown powers-that-be to be able to edit things out.

It's the publisher, not unknown powers that be. And paper editions are edited and updated and different illustrations used, too. If you want to be sure of getting a book as it was originally published you need a second-hand copy as near to a first edition as possible.

There's a difference between updating an illustration (although I don't see the point) and removing vast swathes of text or changing certain phrases because someone has decided it's not acceptable for anyone to read it. Treat people like adults and let them make up their own minds.

It's a terrible practice that I feel is only going to get worse the more control people with this agenda are allowed to have.

Go on ebay etc and find a paper copy.

Eraserbread · Today 10:53

I wouldn't let that put you off. I love mine. I can change the size of the font for easier reading; it's waterproof which is great for the bath

Are they? I read mine in the bath and am constantly worried that I'll drop it and ruin it!

Oh! resistant to 2 metres of fresh water for 60 minutes and 0.25 metres of salt water for 3 minutes!

Not all of them, depends on the model, so I'd check before you get too blasé at bath time!

Feeling validated!!

I agree with pp who love their proper books- I used to have shelves and shelves of books but life events, moving, sharing a house, etc all whittled the collection down bit by bit and I moved a lot of favourites onto the kindle without reading the T&Cs 😭

Same thing happens on Amazon Music (some albums suddenly become unavailable in my area) 😡😭

I just checked for Paper White, which is what I've got.

I've tried all the main music subscriptions, and I find that YouTube music is consistently the best when it comes to finding what you want to listen to. It has tons of obscure stuff you just don't get on Spotify or Amazon, plus you get ad-free YouTube into the bargain.

The only reason I considered one was for travelling, because its a bit annoying having to use up a good sized part of my suitcase to carry for my books when I go on holiday but I prefer real books so much that I'm not sure its worth it, especially if things get changed.

Someone up-thread said you can switch off the updates, so maybe not a major concern after all. I'd say, look for a second-hand one on eBay/Vinted if it would make life easier when travelling. You can get older models for a few quid.

There's a difference between updating an illustration (although I don't see the point)....

Sometimes it's a copyright issue. The Narnia books were published without the Pauline Baynes illustrations at one time, because the then publisher couldn't get the rights to them.

Sometmes it's a matter of putting the characters in more modern dress, for example.

US and UK edtions of books differ. Publishers cut chunks in a new edition/paperback edition because the original text is too long. They remove references to, for example, the Great War, because they consider it makes the story seem dated. This has been happening for a long time, and you wouldn't know unless you had a first edition to compare.

I see. I really don't like that though. It's treating modern readers as dullards with low attention spans, and putting out the author's work in a way they did not intend.

I suppose they do what they think will sell though.

The problem with turning off updates is that some updates are beneficial. For example if you have a cookery book and there’s an error in a recipe, correcting that is good. Some later editions of books have additional chapters or other further material that wasn’t in the original, so it’s nice when these are added. Spelling and grammar corrections are also welcome (for me anyway!).

However I do agree that I don’t like changes to the text, especially when there’s no obvious reason. I was listening (audible update books too!) to one of my favourite Marian Keyes books recently and there’s a bit in the original where a character describes someone else’s reading preferences as ‘up-yer-bum stuff’ and for some reason that was cut! There’s also another book by Marian that mentions a character having a child, and that’s been rewritten to remove reference to that child because it doesn’t fit with a book she’s subsequently written.

Having said that, it happens to physical books too. If you buy a newer version of a book, it may have different text to the original (the change I mentioned above has also been made in newer editions of the paperback). As a pp said the only way to guarantee getting the original text is to get a first edition physical copy and never replace it. There doesn’t have to be a significant passage of time either - quite a few paperbacks are given different titles to the hardback editions and I’ve seen examples of characters changing name between the hardback and the paperback.

What book is it @AlertCat? You might be able to find an old copy somewhere.

No, really? Which one - we watch it every year and I've had the feeling something was missing but couldn't work out what