I was able to obtain a copy of Lawrence Lessig’s new book this weekend in Amsterdam. I had thought of all sorts of schemes to see how quickly I could get a copy of the book from the states, assuming I wouldn’t find it in the typical Dutch book shops (which almost never have non-fiction books in the English language). I finally found the book in an American book store in Amsterdam – though I nearly left without seeing the book and only spotted it out of the corner of my eye from across the room as I was descending the stairs in disappointment (it wasn’t next to the other two of Lessig’s books).

Interestingly, the book store also featured a section of “American food” for homesick ex-pats. A good portion of the selection was Dunkin Hines cake mixes. I didn’t realize that was what I’m supposed to be missing here in the Netherlands. I miss burritos.

I was surprised that Lessig didn’t release the book online under a Creative Commons license (the copyright notice in the book explicitly reserves all rights). In fact, I was confused. He did release a Creative Commons version in pdf, and other formats would follow.

I don’t know if it’s good or bad that I’m actually reading (and caring about) the copyright notices in books now. I just finished A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius and I have to admit that I was greatly entertained by Dave Eggers’ version of fine print (click "next page" to see the copyright notice).