"Modernist Cuisine" by Myhrvold, Young & Bilet (Part 1)

[gilius]

I'm holding both, plenty of time to cancel and maybe better price when we get closer to cristmas :-)

/gilius

[pedro]

Nathan, include me in the bunch of those who are really, really excited about this book. One question, though. I understand that a fully fledged ebook is a long way down the road, but is there any digital companion to the book planned? Either a usb stick, cd or dvd, or perhaps a private web site...

PS: Thanks guys for the heads up, just cancelled at Amazon.com and reorder at Amazon.ca. Way cheaper.

[runwestierun]

It's going down! Not much, but hopefully it marks a trend. CDN$397.10 at Amazon.ca. Steady at US$500.00 at Amazon.com.

[blackp]

I too have just cancelled my Amazon.com order in favour of ordering from Amazon.ca.

One thing I noticed is that the shipping costs are very different between the US and Canadian sites.

My original US Amazon order was USD421.87 plus USD9.98 for shipping (Totalling USD431.85 which today is AUD439.45). That shipping method was giving me a ship date of 7 Mar 2011 and an expected delivery date of 22 Mar 2011 (roughly 2 weeks). I didn't check alternate shipping options at the time as I have had many experiences with Amazon US orders taking about that time to reach Australia using the default shipping option.

The Amazon.ca site had Modernist Cuisine for CAD434.08. The shipping options for Amazon.ca are: CAD17.98 for 30-40 weeks delivery!!! CAD26.98 for 7-14 weeks and CAD36.98 for "Priority International Courier" - 3-7 days delivery.

I have never used Amazon.ca, but I didn't know that any business still used carrier pigeons to deliver freight!

I ordered my copy using the priority courier option on the .ca site saving a total of AUD8.88 but with the added advantage that the estimated delivery is now 10-16 Mar 2011. I'm nearly $9 up and get my copy around 1 or 2 weeks earlier.

All in all this is good, but not necessarily a fantastic deal.

The ridiculously long delivery times quoted by Amazon.ca may not be the same for people in other countries, nor even real, but it is worth checking. I cannot imagine waiting 30-40 weeks from the publication of this work before getting into it!

Hope that nobody has been caught by this.

Regards,

Peter.

[blackp]

Before someone picks me up on it the paragraph which reads:

The Amazon.ca site had Modernist Cuisine for CAD434.08. The shipping options for Amazon.ca are: CAD17.98 for 30-40 weeks delivery!!! CAD26.98 for 7-14 weeks and CAD36.98 for "Priority International Courier" - 3-7 days delivery.

Should say:

The Amazon.ca site had Modernist Cuisine for CAD397.10. The shipping options for Amazon.ca are: CAD17.98 for 30-40 weeks delivery!!! CAD26.98 for 7-14 weeks and CAD36.98 for "Priority International Courier" - 3-7 days delivery.

Sorry to confuse - I used my total buy price inclusive of shipping.

Cheers,

PB

[FoodMan]

Very nice. With shipping to me in the US from Amazon.ca it cost less than $400 US. I should get it around March 17th. Best deal so far, but will keep my eye on Amazon.com as well just in case so I can get free shipping.

[sadistick]

Over $600 for a (cook)book!?

What is this world coming to......

Anyone willing to shell out this much money for information (readily available online) printed with some (most likely beautiful) pictures on paper and bound, I have a bridge in FL that I will sell ya....

Edited October 27, 2010 by sadistick (log)

[Chris Amirault]

Not sure what you mean by "single book."

[sadistick]

I removed the word 'single' to reduce any potential confusion.

Irregardless, the point still remains.

[Chris Amirault]

Irregardless, the point still remains.

Which is what, exactly? Some people value a cookbook that promises to be groundbreaking by most accounts and are prepared to pay what they think it's worth -- and you don't/aren't?

[nickrey]

Over $600 for a (cook)book!?

What is this world coming to......

Anyone willing to shell out this much money for information (readily available online) printed with some (most likely beautiful) pictures on paper and bound, I have a bridge in FL that I will sell ya....

They spent years experimenting to find out how and why things work and cover it across the books. The information is most certainly not on line. It pays to explore before delivering knee-jerk criticism.

[runwestierun]

I removed the word 'single' to reduce any potential confusion.

Irregardless, the point still remains.

Is "irregardless" a word?

[blackp]

From my understanding of the effort that has gone into researching and then writing and photographing this work $600 seems pretty cheap. I would be surprised if Nathan makes a much of a profit even with the $600 price tag, especially considering the high quality paper and printing process used. What he will make however is a contribution to the world's understanding of cooking which in years to come will likely be seen as significant as those of Carême and Escoffier.

[sadistick]

It is a word, though non-standard.

Groundbreaking? Perhaps if this book came out 3-6 years ago, one may consider the validity of that statement.

And the fact that one believes that they are coming out with data that is not available online is quite amusing. These guys are NOT inventing (or even re-inventing) the wheel.

One would hazard a guess that in today's economic reality, the success of this book's sales will be lackluster (in fact, I would put money on it), given its absurd price tag.

At the end of the day, if people wish to make frivolous purchases, that is their choice.

Edited October 27, 2010 by sadistick (log)

[FoodMan]

It is a word, though non-standard.

Groundbreaking? Perhaps if this book came out 3-6 years ago, one may consider the validity of that statement.

And the fact that one believes that they are coming out with data that is not available online is quite amusing. These guys are NOT inventing (or even re-inventing) the wheel.

One would hazard a guess that in today's economic reality, the success of this book's sales will be lackluster (in fact, I would put money on it), given its absurd price tag.

At the end of the day, if people wish to make frivolous purchases, that is their choice.

How much was that bridge in FL for and where does it go? It might be worth it to some.

[sadistick]

$500,000 - not a penny less!

Leads straight to the swamps, lots of gators 'n goblins to play with.

Interested?

[Paul Kierstead]

And the fact that one believes that they are coming out with data that is not available online is quite amusing.

Cool! Um, one question though, how do you know it is available online without the contents of the book?

[nickrey]

Oh, you mean on the other Internet with the secret search engine.... Now I see.

[vice]

And the fact that one believes that they are coming out with data that is not available online is quite amusing. These guys are NOT inventing (or even re-inventing) the wheel.

I'll add that, even if some data are available elsewhere, the authors have collected all of it in one place and interpreted their results specifically with cooking in mind. Both are considerable contributions.

[Chris Amirault]

sadistick, can you give us a few examples that prove your point?

[Human Bean]

Don't feed the troll.

Glad I saw this thread; I wasn't specifically aware of the book previously. Looks like a must-buy.

Edit: Can't type.

Edited October 27, 2010 by Human Bean (log)

[nextguy]

sadistick, what is your problem? You come onto this thread questioning the judgement of the many people who support Nathan's work because yours is the only one that makes sense? By your logic, why see movies, tv, or read any printed media? It is all formulaic and everything has already been done now right? Come on. And the book is NOT 600$. At least not anymore. I won't assume you download movies or music illegaly but given your philosphy of not paying for things that can be found for free (falsely since Nathan's research has itself not been lifted off the Internet as you imply), enjoy your NPR and PBS. Oh wait, you pay for that with your taxes. What a horrible conundrum that must be for you.

Edited October 27, 2010 by nextguy (log)

[sadistick]

Purchasing 1 book, for say $500, or 5 equally well thought out, potentially more highly acclaimed authored books, of equal or higher caliber.....hmmmmmmm........

The point is this: Unless these guys (and I have nothing against either) have headed up 2-3* restaurants for years at a time, or unless they are world renowned scientists whom have applied theories and discoveries to practical realities, there is no justification (obviously this is MY opinion, which many fail to realize) to this over-inflated price tag.

Edited October 28, 2010 by sadistick (log)

[nextguy]

The point is this: Unless these guys (and I have nothing against either) have headed up 2-3* restaurants for years at a time, or unless they are world renowned scientists whom have applied theories and discoveries to practical realities, there is no justification (obviously this is MY opinion, which many fail to realize) to this over-inflated price tag.

OMG! Do you have any idea who Nathan Myhrvold is? And Chris Young worked for years at the Fat Duck. The Fat freaking Duck! Whatever...

[Chris Hennes]

It's a legitimate criticism: the team involved has no established reputation as experimentalists. I'm interested in the data and techniques in the book, not the recipes, so I couldn't care less about their reputation as chefs (and we certainly have seen many truly awful books from well-regarded chefs, so I'm not convinced it would matter anyway). It's a testament to Nathan's clearly demonstrated intelligence and drive that so many of us are willing to bet such a substantial sum of money on this book. Yes, he has a background in science, but experiments are HARD. REALLY HARD. I don't think most people appreciate how difficult it is to set up an experiment properly. I'm betting Nathan does.

(As an aside, there is value in even just collecting all of this disparate data into a single compendium, even if we were to accept the dubious notion that it's all already available elsewhere)