I am currently re-reading the last WOT book in anticipation of the new one coming out in November. As some of you know, since getting my Kindle, I refuse to read books in paper-printed format unless it is impossible to read the book any other way. E-books are just that good.

However, there is a small flaw in my plans sometimes. I own printed copies of all the WOT books, but I don't want to read them as they are. So, I downloaded "unofficial" PDF copies of them off the internet. And therein lies the problem. Sometimes the formatting is a little wonky, but I can live with that. But, it's the OCR that is the issue. When whoever it is scans these original books to get the printed matter into an electronic text format, sometimes the words can get a little screwy if the letters aren't recognized or the software they're using doesn't think a word should be a word. This is especially true where names are concerned.

If I'd only ever read the PDFs of these books, I'd think Lews Therin was married to "Hyena". "Thorn" is a cool gleeman. Rand's beloved father is "Tarn". And Perrin rescued his wife from "Maiden". There are plenty of other examples. It doesn't like Jordan's Old Tongue, either. It isn't a big issue since I've read the books. It's amusing.

What's the point? I won't ever be reading any unofficial copies of books I haven't already read! Can you imagine the confusion if you thought these characters had those names or saw "algai'd'siswai" spelled five different ways? I'll be damned if I'm going to pay again for an electronic copy of a book I've already bought, but these publishers never have to worry about me relying on pirated or unofficial copies of new books I want to read.

Yes, I mentioned WOT, but the post isn't about WOT. Suckers. Hmph.