I bought a finance textbook from India. Including the shipping, it still cost almost two thirds less than what my local bookstore sells it for. It is legitimate of course: It dons a sticker (with a hologram) from the publisher… you know ... the kind that somehow make items feel authentic and genuine. (I should get those things for first dates ... just a thought). The difference between my ‘international edition’ and the book offered here is colour. The sticker is the only thing that is not black and white on my book.
So, I’m reading chapter 18, and I pick up an obvious contradiction. An error where two ideas have been transposed in a sentence, skewing the whole concept being explained. A simple editing mistake. But just to make sure, I decide to approach the mwalimu to make sure I’m not seeing my own things.
Very awkward encounter. His adrenaline level was very high. I could tell he was quite tense even as I pointed out the paragraph in question. He took the book in his hands. Trembling. The pages were flapping audibly. It's impossible to read a book vibrating at that frequency. I could even feel the cool air being fanned. It seemed to me like he was scheming an evil device, to jump me at any moment when I least suspected it.
Was it my black and white book? Maybe he is passionate about the subject and, because he cares so much, he was upset that the error went unnoticed by the writer. Either way, I wasn't about to stick around to find out. I chose flight from the stocky professor, of course, with my Mumbai International Edition safely back in my possession.
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