Does anyone know why this book (The Complete Idiot's Guide to
Submarines) is $450!?!?  I can't find a copy for less than that, which
seems absurd.

http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Idiots-Guide-Submarines/dp/0028644719/...

One would have to be a complete idiot to pay that sort of price!

Eugene L Griessel

   Political Correctness is the language of cowardice. - Billy Connolly

          -  I usually post only from Sci.Military.Naval  -

On 17 Mar, 05:45, Aftermath Fan <survival...@gmail.com> wrote:

The price was set by one seller, the others have price matched using
listing software, thus establishing  this "finger in the air" price as
the de facto market price. In fact it's a bubble, in part driven by
pre-orders placed by would-be buyers, most of whom will be dealers
(who have visibility of the Amazon pre-order list) , all chasing after
what may only have been a single genuine customer.

Some of the sellers listed won't have a copy (the generic or absent
descriptions of condition are a dead giveaway), and are pricing
speculatively in the hope that should they get an order, they can pick
one up elsewhere and drop ship it (Amazon buyers often don't
necessarily buy the cheapest copy, sometimes because not all listings
are visible, other times because of factors like feedback, shipping
location, condition, etc).

If somebody with an Amazon seller's account listed a copy at (say)
$20, the prices could well drop accordingly, depending on how astute
the price matching software is (I've seen this work before).

On Mar 17, 1:45 am, Aftermath Fan <survival...@gmail.com> wrote:

You know that it is available as a google book here?

http://books.google.com/books?id=W0_BL3_ImDIC&dq=complete+idiot%27s+g...

Be careful - I suspect there is more than one book with this title.  I
came across two at my favourite on-line bookseller, each listing
different authors.

Eugene L Griessel

   A job is nice but it interferes with my life.

          -  I usually post only from Sci.Military.Naval  -

On Mar 17, 6:03 am, eugene@dynagen..co..za (Eugene Griessel) wrote:

Perhaps the names of the two are reversed, I noticed one Brit source
had Benson first and others DiMercurio.

Michael DiMercurio,Michael Benson
--------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------

See how much you can save if the book is out of print

http://www.thattechnicalbookstore.com/b0028644719.htm

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Submarines
Format  Paperback
Subject Transportation / Reference
ISBN/SKU        0028644719
Author  Michael Demercurio
Publisher       Alpha Books
Publish Date    January 2003

Price   $18.95 Your Price $17.05 You save $1.90
        Out of Print

On Sun, 16 Mar 2008 22:45:42 -0700 (PDT), Aftermath Fan

You can get the book on aircraft carriers for $1.95

However the subs one is £383.95 on the UK site.

The list price is $18.95 which would seem to be consitent
with the series.

I guess this is a collectors item, will look out for it
in secondhand book stores !

Perhaps one should buy the one listed at $104 and get
scanning.
--
Jim Watt          
http://www.gibnet.com

On Mar 17, 11:06 am, Jim Watt <jimw...@aol.no_way> wrote:

Before you do, read this review:

I gave this book to my husband who worked on nuclear submarines. He
said the book was ok for someone that knew nothing about nuclear
submarines, otherwise for someone like him it had nothing of real
interest. I cannot understand why the price of this book was so high,
over $80, it was nothing special.

Yep - you were right.  Now that I have more than a fleeting moment I
went and looked at the detail for the two offerings.  Says it's "out
of print".  Local price is R197 which is around $30.  But we have
heavy taxes on this sort of item, unfortunately.  I never order from
Amazon because the tax is often more than the cost of the book - and
since customs have Amazon figured out, little gets through without
their cut being collected.

Eugene L Griessel

   Guy Fawkes - the last man to enter Parliament with honest
   intentions.

          -  I usually post only from Sci.Military.Naval  -