Last year I complained to Amazon that a book sold on its website had infringed my copyright. Amazon quickly adjudicated in my favour and de-listed the title. But their high-handed anonymity and avoidance of any dialogue that could not be reduced to ticking a box made the experience memorably unpleasant. They were like robots! Beyond their seriously impressive selling operation which has elevated getting stuff to being as easy as in the blink of an eye, they were an intimid

Last week I popped into Penguin’s “pop-up” store in Waterstones bookshop in Piccadilly, which is open until the end of this month to...