Perhaps I am old fashioned. I never got a Kindle or any other gadget to read books on a tablet. Every book that I read, I want to experience the joy of holding the physical copy, of turning a physical page, of smelling the book. I love libraries and bookstores and am most at home in the presence of books. I also grew up in a family where the written word was revered, regardless of the publication. Putting the newspaper on the floor was considered highly disrespectful, objectionable and counter to the values of learning. Coming from this world the idea that physical books will be ripped apart, fed to big automated machines, destroyed and then 'recycled' is deeply disturbing and hurtful. But that is exactly the world we are in.

Reports from several newspapers, independent organisations and court documents suggest that AI companies (including Anthropic through its project Panama), in order to train their large language models (LLMs) are buying old and sometimes rare........

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