A while back an old co-worker was talking about a book where an inventor creates two empathic books which evolve as the reader reads them. One of the books was for his daughter but apparently it is stolen. I don't really remember anything else other than the fact about empathic books and how the story is different for every reader(or something like that). The plot delves into artificial intelligence. Publishing date circa 1980s or earlier but definitely not something recent. Would love to know the title. Thanks!

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Originally Posted by hbow27

A while back an old co-worker was talking about a book where an inventor creates two empathic books which evolve as the reader reads them. One of the books was for his daughter but apparently it is stolen. I don't really remember anything else other than the fact about empathic books and how the story is different for every reader(or something like that). The plot delves into artificial intelligence. Publishing date circa 1980s or earlier but definitely not something recent. Would love to know the title. Thanks!

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Sorry I can't help you with this one. Just wanted to say that I like the idea of the book that has a plot that upgrades itself to the background of it's reader. Excellent idea!
If you get any response to this please let me know. I also will see if I can put my fingers on a copy!
;)

Found it! Apparently the book is called "The Diamond Age" by Neal Stephenson. Not sure how much of the plot I but this snippet from amazon.com rings true to what I remember:
"engineer living in a neo-Victorian clave, who is commissioned by one of the world's most powerful men to create a Primer that might enable the man's granddaughter to be educated in ways superior to the "straight and narrow." When Hackworth is mugged, an illegal copy of the Primer falls into the hands of a working-class girl named Nell"