Congratulations!
Is it true or false that a book offered people a chance to win a free Thunderbird convertible for reading the book’s copywrite notice? The story goes that in the year 2001, a third-year medical student at Yale University, Jeffrey Seiden, was studying his electrocardiography textbook one day when he happened to notice the following message in the book’s copyright notice: “Congratulations for your perseverance! You may win the car on page forty six by writing down your name and address and submitting them to the publisher.” While it seemed too good to be true, Jeffery did as instructed and waited.
Seemed Too Good To Be True
It seems that the book’s author, Dr. Dale Dubin, had inserted the note into the 50th printing of his textbook, “Rapid Interpretation of EKGs”, putting his classic Thunderbird convertible up for grabs. Of the 60,000 students who bought the book containing the offer, only five spotted the hidden message and contacted the publisher. Those five names were then placed into a hat and Jeffrey’s name was drawn. Dubin’s classic 1965 Thunderbird convertible was delivered to Jeffery at Yale by Dubin’s daughter.
Presented On The University’s Campus
Though Yale officials were only made aware of the contest at the last minute, they still allowed the award to be presented on the university’s campus and even helped Dubin to attract publicity. However, Yale has since done what it can to distance itself from the affair after revelations about Dubin’s past.
Whoops!
It seems that Dr. Dubin was an ex-convict who’d had his medical license revoked after a 1986 arrest and conviction in Florida for federal drug and child pornography charges. Dubin was sentenced to five years in a federal prison, but was released in 1989 after having served only three and half years of the sentence.
So, the answer as to whether it was true or false that a student won a free Thunderbird convertible just for reading the copywrite notice in a book is that it’s 100% true.
