I worked as a Technical Writer for several major software companies including Computer Associates, IBM, and BMC Software. All of our documentation was kept in digital form. It is difficult to understand doing otherwise. One of the comments said that the publishing houses don't keep digital copies of printed books. If true, that seems stupid on the part of the publishers as it is easy to modify digital files, especially if you are going to make minor updates or release a new edition. It is hard for me to understand the concept of having to retype every book. I would be very surprised if they didn't keep digital copies.

I seem to see a definate set of patterns in this particular eBook which suggest to me that they are using some kind of tool to translate the content to Mobipocket format. I earlier mentioned that "by" is typically spelled "bv". I also noticed a lot of other cases where a "v" was used instead of a "y". Another glaring repetition is spelling "have" as "ha\e" with a backward slash! It does seem as one comment suggested that they might be using OCR to create the text for the file as it consistently screws up the same words.

I must say that I am disappointed that the publishing industry doesn't have a clue about publishing! XML along with content control software allows you to create content and then reuse it in an infinite number of formats. If they would take the time to create their system correctly, they could use one source to create printed versions as well as various eBook versions. It would require an IT department with publication experience, but it would save them a lot of time and money in the end.