Pulped

AI companies are buying up used books, scanning them, and destroying the originals. At least, that's the headline... the real story is weirder. Charlie Becker, a seventh-generation bookseller in Houston, went viral for tracing one of these mysterious bulk orders - following overlooked books into Amazon warehouses filled with entire categories of obscure human knowledge. Today we're taking the plunge into a mystery that spans artificial intelligence, culture, and the LTV of a "rare" book.

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Timestamps:

(00:00) - Episode setup and guest intro

(01:22) - Mic check and welcome

(02:01) - Viral post and lawsuit context

(04:05) - Who is Charlie Becker

(10:40) - Amazon warehouse mystery

(13:02) - Which books are vanishing

(16:28) - FBA arbitrage and pulping

(18:53) - Amazon irony and AI layer

(22:11) - ISBN gap and metadata tool