I think saying someone returned the notebooks is a common misconception. It's just that notebooks sometimes get returned and when they do, we hear about that in the news. Notebooks don't get returned all the time, and you just don't hear about it.
Yes, and this is why it is news. Someone returned them although the expectation was nobody would. Maybe I'm missing something from your comment...
I was referencing the common misconception of evolution being a force with a goal of making organisms better. So the person wasn't a force returning the notebook, the notebook just happened to be fit enough to be returned in this situation.