Thread: Machinists' Bedside Reader

I have probably lived a sheltered life but I had never heard of this book until the other day when I was in a bookshop in Maleny Qld.

In the window was volume 1,2 and 3 of this and I idly flipped through them, thought them quite interesting.

Then I looked at the price, $225 for the 3 volumes, which incidently were soft cover and fairly cheaply produced.

So, I gently replaced them and went on my way.

When I came back to the van I looked these books up the first one I found was on Ebay, volume 1 only for $200, then Amazon $US140 each volume.

Could someone enlighten me why they are so expensive?

From what I saw of the content it didn't look that special.

They are packed full of interesting stuff. Guy (the author) self publishes but because of internet piracy is not at the moment. Given supply and demand, the price has shot up. I woulldn't be paying that much but I think when there was supply they were selling for $40 to $50, which was not bad.

Michael

Originally Posted by Michael G

They are packed full of interesting stuff. Guy (the author) self publishes but because of internet piracy is not at the moment. Given supply and demand, the price has shot up. I woulldn't be paying that much but I think when there was supply they were selling for $40 to $50, which was not bad.

Michael

Hmm, another bit of info on the internet said Guy went through an ugly divorce and he now refuses to publish them.

Whatever, they didn't immediately impress me as $75 books.

Just looked on Abe Books in the UK and they are asking $350 per volume!

I bought the set of 3 in Canada in 2010 and I think I paid ~$100 for the set.
The most useful thing I go from the books was general info on metal bluing.

At the price I paid I'd say they were worth it but much more than this and I wouldn't be worrying too much about them.

If you hang around this and the PM forums you will get equivalent info in a couple of years.

Got 3 volumes, second hand paperback. Certainly good reading and lots of info... but $200 or so for the one book is just plain madness to me.

Not sure what the go is with the pirating... I just looked and there are no torrents for those books.... And if they are out of print, it will only make people share electronic files of it anyway...

Originally Posted by .RC.

Not sure what the go is with the pirating... I just looked and there are no torrents for those books.... And if they are out of print, it will only make people share electronic files of it anyway...

every thing is pirated...you just need to look far n wide...sometimes its closer than you think

Well, there was a version on the Open Library, but Mr Lautard had them take it down (he doesn't seem to think that his books should be available for free in a library).

After that sort of reaction from him (I'm assuming he has benefited from using books from a library once or twice himself), I know that if electronic copies ever cross my computer disk I'll make sure they are reposted to the various booksharing forums/usenet groups/seed boxes that I'm aware of.

BobL

You mentioned in one of the books, that there was some info on metal bluing, any chance you could precis any of the article, or can a copy of the relevant pages be found anywhere?

Ken

Originally Posted by Master Splinter

Well, there was a version on the Open Library, but Mr Lautard had them take it down (he doesn't seem to think that his books should be available for free in a library).

After that sort of reaction from him (I'm assuming he has benefited from using books from a library once or twice himself), I know that if electronic copies ever cross my computer disk I'll make sure they are reposted to the various booksharing forums/usenet groups/seed boxes that I'm aware of.

As above. Got the same feeling about his approach to Open Library. But...
Aparently, you can download the whole set from SCRIBD in PDF form. Registration is for free. It could be a fee for the access to the books, I'm not sure but it is well worth to try that option instead of paying hundreds for hard copies.

I've swapped a couple of emails with him and the impression that I got was that basically these books are his income. He sees any online service that allows people to download them without paying something to him as theft - that was the reason he had his books removed. Understandable - at least with a physcial library they buy your book and only one person at a time gets to see it. On-line, lots of people can see it and he does not get anything for it unless people then decide to buy the book later.
I've emailed him a couple of times about TMBR 4 as I'd love it to come out, and would like to see TMBR 1 to 3 re printed too - website price (www.lautard.com) is US$45. I've made a few suggestions about how to make it harder for his copyright to be infringed but I think he's after an all or nothing solution where as I think that the best he can hope for is to minimise and at least make some money from them.

I'll email him again.

Michael

So I presume he'd like regular physical libraries to do the same (it's not like the Open Library has unlimited borrowing - it's done as one 'virtual' copy at a time, in a copy-protected format).

I don't necessarily agree with this strategy, but it's his.

I've never seen it in a regular library and I can't comment on whether he'd think they should be removed or otherwise.
We did have a discussion like this some time back and the conclusion was that there was no such thing as a copy-proof format, so really if you have the right decrypters the pirates are getting a free run.
http://www.woodworkforums.com/showthread.php?t=184938
At least with a hard copy someone has to spend the time scanning it.

Michael

As Michael says, we've had this discussion before.

The books are worth having but not at the current asking price. I'd happily sell my 3 for that sort of money but I suspect the asking price is just that - nobody is actually paying it.

WRT copyright, Guy is out of business if he's waiting for a foolproof e-book solution. There is only one and he's already adopted it - don't publish anything in electronic format (or indeed, at all). I *hate* DRM and wouldn't buy a book so protected or if I did, the first thing I'd do is strip off the DRM stuff. Not because I'd post it or whatever, I don't do that, but because I'm not going to be told I can read it on my Kindle but not on my laptop, for example.

Baen Books sells e-books and paper books, your choice. They haven't gone broke yet and their e-books don't contain DRM rubbish.

Guy's stuff is good but pre-internet and YouTube. There's nothing in his books, really, that isn't already out there anyway. I'd buy a TMBR 4 but I won't lose any sleep if one never eventuated. The only person Guy's really affecting by this is himself, frankly.

PDW

I actually think the books were written as per his thoughts/notes while beginning to doze off.... or being kept awake by his wifes snoring....in contrast to us being us being able to read them while dozing off

nothing is in order and some topics, if i recall correctly, span a couple of the readers

but still good to peruse