[stefco_]

Yes, this is pretty much what I meant. The "horrid" part is that I would like to do a quick

    /"<CR>xnx

(or similar) in vim to delete the quotes on a multi-line block. Even that is annoying. But with the unicode quotes I have to do a bit more conscious searching, which is a distraction.

Of course, the fact that the text is modified in any way is user-hostile. I don't mind re-typing a code example (since I'm trying to learn it), but I like to copy-paste sometimes (e.g. data literals).

I paid for a DRM-free ebook that's meant to be copy-pasted. We have a universal paradigm for how plaintext copy works. Apple charges a premium for good design. Ebook readers are generally supposed to get out of your way and let you focus on content. There is no reason for Apple Books to have this behavior.