A colleague from NY who prefers to be anonymous sends me this email:
Sitting stuck in traffic on way to Mumbai airport. Various peddlers offering flowers, newspapers, etc knock on the car window. And here’s one with pirated books. My, the world certainly is flat I think looking at friedman’s samizdat cover. And then I look down the pile — and there is your book. It won’t put food on your table, but you should be happy to know that the guys who rely on one or two sales a day and can only carry a few books have put you on their bestseller list.
First, amazing that he can send me that note while in traffic in one of the most perilous places on earth (at least, last week it was). Second, how cool is it that The Search is a street bestseller in Mumbai?! Do I care about the piracy? No. No, no no. I care that someone in Mumbai cared enough to rip it off, and that someone there might be reading my stuff. That is just cool. Commercial markets always follow the free, or, well, the pirates in this case. Always.
