I guess if the time is not the same on the island as off, he may have seen the cards a very long time before or maybe even not "yet." I don't even want to try and figure that stuff out.

In regards to the book, on Thursday when they show the enhanced version of "Eggtown" they may address some of this. For last week's episode they explained how the name on Ben's passport is Dean Moriarty which is the name from Jack Kerouac's "On the Road." These episodes don't give many hints but you never know what may turn out to be important. I think they sprinkle in enough nonsense like the type of Helicopter, etc so that we are unable to distinguish the real clues from the fluff.