Amazon.com came under some heavy criticism yesterday for last week’s Kindle debacle; the company’s decision to delete copies of e-books from customers’ Kindles was attacked as stupid, thoughtless, and painfully out of line with Amazon’s stated principles.
Well, that by itself isn’t news. What’s news is that this time those criticisms are coming from Amazon’s own founder and CEO. (CHT Raimundo.)
Of course this is another of these costless “oops, our bad” apologies, like the senate’s proposed apology for slavery (unless Amazon is offering some restitution to its customers over and above giving their money back). Still, it’s a sign that the bad publicity was strong enough to worry them.
Another example of the new world corporations are finding themselves in, with the potential for negative publicity in a networked culture. Taco Bell already found it out with the Imolakee Indian tomato pickers.
Am I right in thinking this title is borrowed from Robert Ringer’s first book, Winning Through Intimidation?
Yup. I wondered whether anyone would catch that. I was staying in someone’s house over New Year’s 1976-77, just before my 13th birthday, and I read two of the books they had there, and that was one of them — it caught my eye because of the cartoons. (Dune was the other.)
I guess that might actually have been the first libertarian-influenced book I read (though it’s not exactly my preferred flavour of libertarianism).
Also, around the same era, and thus well before I read Ayn Rand, I read the Rand-influenced Price of the Phoenix, the first of Sondra Marshak and Myrna Culbreath’s Star Trek novels.
Haven’t read the Price of the Phoenix, but just read the Wikipedia description. The fairly detailed plot summary didn’t highlight any Randian themes. Can I ask what you’re thinking of when you mention that the book is “Rand-influenced”?
Mainly in the presentation of the characters.
In their later novels (Fate of the Phoenix, The Promethean Design, and Triangle) the Randian influence gets even more explicit.
Gary McGath had an article a while back in Aristos on the Randian elements in their novels, but it doesn’t seem to be online.
Funny how you’ve never made any allusions to Dune, positive or otherwise. Chapterhouse seems like the kind of obscure not-quite-sequel to a cool scifi book you’d like to critique.
Well, I have passing references to the (mostly wretched) David Lynch movie here, to the (mostly decent) Sci-Fi miniseries here, and to the forthcoming new movie version here, but you’re right, I haven’t commented on the book – which is odd, because it was one of my favourite novels. I enjoyed the next two books of the first trilogy, though less so, and the second trilogy I didn’t think much of, and Chapterhouse really seemed like going out with a whimper. I haven’t felt tempted to read the Brian Herbert / Kevin Anderson follow-up novels.
In related news, I finally met Robert Ringer a few years ago at an Advocates for Self-Government event. He seemed to have become a bit of a warhawk IIRC.
Where I read it was a self help book possible author along the lines of Zig Zigler or Clemente Stone type.. Wish I could remember more clearly