"Modernist Cuisine" by Myhrvold, Young & Bilet (Part 3)

[Kerry Beal]

Re Cancellation of UK orders

I've now had time to check my original order on Amazon UK. It was ordered at a price of £375, before they cancelled it.

Subsequently, their page asked me to register my interest when it became available again and the price...£465.00 - around 55% more than on Amazon.com

I think I can guess why the order got cancelled: the greedy bas***ds simply wanted to up the price by 25%.

I know the MC site says the retailer sets the price and MC can't control it but giving Amazon an effective monopoly ensures they can do what they like. Perhaps, MC should appoint alternative retailers as they've done in the US.

This happened to a legacy eG'er via Amazon.ca - a few phone calls got the original price back.

[Twyst]

Thanks to this thread I cancelled my amazon order and ordered from Barnes and Noble on monday. Books are already here and they are beautiful

[Twyst]

After about a week with my books I have to say Im completely blown away. My expectations were high but this set has exceeded every one of them. I will be recommending this set to everyone I know who cooks!

[chefhenry]

I finally took the plunge and pre ordered about six months before the eventual release date, and still ended up waiting an extra month until the bulk of the first printing run made it to North America, for me anyways, patience paid off with Amazon.ca a couple of hundred cheaper than they are asking these days. Certainly concur with the general view of the tomes though, simply amazing, it'll be a long time before I have the opportunity to even leaf through all the volumes, let alone begin to digest all of the information. Simply too busy, must retire... From cooking... So that I can cook more..

[equality5271]

I placed a pre-order through B&N.com on February 22. I still haven't received my book. I have contacted B&N and heard these dates: March 16, April 6, April 29, May, July 1, and now September 1. I was already pretty frustrated in May, then, I read on here how quite a few people ordered through B&N in May and received their books very quickly. I called them today with the help of an Egulleter's order number, and they informed me that the reason why he received his book was because he was located closer to the warehouse it shipped from. I live in NYC for goodness sake. They had told me each time I had called previously that they were filling order as they received them. It is so unbelievably frustrating. I definitely don't advise ordering through Barnes & Noble.com. This is not the way to do business or treat your customers.

[chris-s]

Well, well. Wonders will never cease.

After having my order for MC at £375 cancelled by Amazon and then being asked to register my interest in the new edition at £465, I've today had a general email offering the books at £300 (list £395).

Naturally, I've ordered them & now just have to wait till August.

That's improved a crappy day no end.

It also means I can now continue shopping with Amazon for other things because they're not quite the greedy b**st**ds I took them to be. http://forums.egullet.org/public/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif

[Dann Cutter]

Just ordered my second copy via Amazon (US) today (they had a 'like new' copy for $453, in stock). This one I will keep, as I shamefully sold my first copy of MC (for double, so the shame is somewhat lessened by the happy profit dance).

It has been an interesting study in supply and demand for this title. 25,000 copies will be here by late summer, but yet still, while slowly creeping down, pricing remains in the 180% range used. That curtain will, I imagine, slowly close unless specific details on shifts in printing quality are made known (Re: Tsunami supply effects etc). The error list was a red herring initially causing an effect but most folks took the hour or so to nicely pencil or ink in the corrections, which frankly has more caché to personal perceived value I think. As such, I don't think the first printing will matter in terms of collectibility price for years - it may but I doubt it. So, how the supply of the second printing affects the secondary market would seem to be leading to a likely collapse. Given the timeframe, unless for specific purpose, I would wager the current actual sales at inflated pricing has more to do with 'positional good' than collector's value.

It has been fascinating watching the flow of this process as much as has been made public. Appreciation to Nathan's folks for the blog postings which let us observe an insight into the process of the reorder and sales numbers.

[ryanmatthewsmith]

Just ordered my second copy via Amazon (US) today (they had a 'like new' copy for $453, in stock). This one I will keep, as I shamefully sold my first copy of MC (for double, so the shame is somewhat lessened by the happy profit dance).

It has been an interesting study in supply and demand for this title. 25,000 copies will be here by late summer, but yet still, while slowly creeping down, pricing remains in the 180% range used. That curtain will, I imagine, slowly close unless specific details on shifts in printing quality are made known (Re: Tsunami supply effects etc). The error list was a red herring initially causing an effect but most folks took the hour or so to nicely pencil or ink in the corrections, which frankly has more caché to personal perceived value I think. As such, I don't think the first printing will matter in terms of collectibility price for years - it may but I doubt it. So, how the supply of the second printing affects the secondary market would seem to be leading to a likely collapse. Given the timeframe, unless for specific purpose, I would wager the current actual sales at inflated pricing has more to do with 'positional good' than collector's value.

It has been fascinating watching the flow of this process as much as has been made public. Appreciation to Nathan's folks for the blog postings which let us observe an insight into the process of the reorder and sales numbers.

Just a quick note on the printing quality of the second print run. The only component affected/changed by the tsunami is the change of paper stock. While slightly different, I assure you the quality is on par with the 1st printing paper. Personally, I prefer the imagery on the newer paper but others in the MC team have preferred the original paper. The difference being the 1st printing paper was a bit warmer which gave a nice soft feel to the photos, the 2nd printing paper is more neutral but slightly brighter...helping the photos really jump off the page.

[alanjesq]

I have been reading MC bypassing the Kitchen Manual until today. I just noticed that my Kitchen Manual table of contents begins with Roman V. Chapter 8????

Can anyone suggest how I can bring this to the attention of the "powers that be" so that I can obtain what I believe should be an index starting at the beginning of the books. I am up to Volume 4, and just having the best time.

alanjesq

PS: if someone with a full index can tell me where the list of "stuff" for Pressure Cooker Beef Stock or Brown Stock is located, I would be greatful. I want to make PC stock today.

[OliverB]

Oh, I had not noticed that myself (haven't touched the kitchen manual) but mine is the same. Are all like this? Is this a mistake? On purpose? At this price level I sure want a complete and correct set, I'm dismayed enough at the (too many IMO) errors....

What does your manual look like?

[mkayahara]

The Kitchen Manual is not a complete index of the books; the index is in Volume 5. I suspect the reason the Kitchen Manual starts with Chapter 8 is because there are no recipes in Chapters 1-7.

[Anna N]

The Kitchen Manual is not a complete index of the books; the index is in Volume 5. I suspect the reason the Kitchen Manual starts with Chapter 8 is because there are no recipes in Chapters 1-7.

I already brought this to the attention of the MC team and was assured that the index starts where is does because that is where the recipes start - there is nothing wrong with the index to the Kitchen Manual.

[OliverB]

good to know, thanks!

In case they're reading it, personally I'd prefer if the kitchen manual had a more rigid back and front cover, it's rather floppy the way it is, which makes turning pages hard/impossible if it's not laying totally flat.

[thayes1c]

I have to note my favorite picture so far: the vacuum packed sardines swimming on page 2:243 (I think that's the page). I had to stop reading for a minute because I was laughing so hard. What is it Ferran Adria says? "A funny picture of a sardine is always better than an exoskeleton free lobster portrait?" Something like that, I think.

(Not to knock the lobster photo, which is also awesome. I just like the humor of the sardine picture)

Edited June 10, 2011 by thayes1c (log)

[StefanS]

Just received update from Amazon, my second print copy is supposed to be shipped June 29, 2011 - June 30, 2011!!!! Did anyone else get similar good news?

[Honkman]

Just received update from Amazon, my second print copy is supposed to be shipped June 29, 2011 - June 30, 2011!!!! Did anyone else get similar good news?

When did you order the books ?

Edited June 29, 2011 by Honkman (log)

[StefanS]

Just received update from Amazon, my second print copy is supposed to be shipped June 29, 2011 - June 30, 2011!!!! Did anyone else get similar good news?

When did you order the books ?

26 March!

[Honkman]

Just received update from Amazon, my second print copy is supposed to be shipped June 29, 2011 - June 30, 2011!!!! Did anyone else get similar good news?

When did you order the books ?

26 March!

Thanks. We ordered our books about 3 weeks later. Hopefully we will get an update from Amazon soon

[pk1]

Yesterday I contacted the folks at Modernist Cuisine to ask if they'd ever consider selling high-quality prints of the pictures from the book, you know, ones you could hang on a kitchen wall. They said they are considering it - I think they would look fantastic in the hallway leading to my kitchen! What do you guys think?

[Carlton]

I know they mentioned wanting to include prints in the next edition. There was a poll on the MC site to vote for your favorites.

[rotuts]

I just got my set -- printing 2 not ed 2

and they include 4 8 x 10 prints.

I can see a few larger ones for the kitchen, yeh!

[gdenby]

Let me toss in another idea. The MC wall calender. A dozen images worth pinning to the wall. Don't quite know what they might add as daily subtexts. Maybe, "on this day in 1984, "On Food and Cooking" was released to the public", or "on this day, the first U.S. patent for the pressure cooker was released." Or perhaps a tip from the sidebar for each day. Or they could toss in stuff like "today is national hot dog day, " and add their own "today is national tapioca maltodextrin day."

[KeystoneNate]

I received the shipping notice from Amazon yesterday evening. I ordered on April 22nd, for anyone keeping track or interested. As a side note, the shipping date on the product page hasn't been updated and Amazon still lists the collection as out of stock. I was obviously surprised to receive the shipping notice without receiving an update on product availability. Not a complaint, just mentioning it for the sake of sharing info.

[Honkman]

We also got finally our shipping notice today.

[nathanm]

Books from the second printing are streaming into ports around the world. Lots of people should be getting their books now. The order backlog should be clearing in the next couple weeks, and the book ought to be in stock normally by late July to mid August.