Author: Alessandro Damiani
Date: 03:33:24 12/15/02
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On December 15, 2002 at 04:40:55, Bruce Moreland wrote: >On December 14, 2002 at 09:20:13, Alessandro Damiani wrote: > >>On December 13, 2002 at 21:44:33, Arshad F. Syed wrote: >> >>>On December 13, 2002 at 21:27:18, Alessandro Damiani wrote: >>> >>>>On December 13, 2002 at 20:55:59, Arshad F. Syed wrote: >>>> >>>>>I just purchased the book 'Scaleable Search in Computer Chess'. It starts off >>>>>well giving a good overview of the main topics and advances in modern CC, but it >>>>>falters badly towards the end. There are no less than 50 pages dedicated to game >>>>>results and scores. I am getting a migraine just trying to figure out who the >>>>>target audience could possibly be for these drab game scorecards?? It seems like >>>>>the author was trying to market his thesis! With all those test results bundled >>>>>in, at first glance that is what it looks like - an excellent thesis. >>>>> >>>>>As if that was not enough, the price is at a premium - $55 for approx. 300 >>>>>pages. Darn, even those C++ bibles with 1200+ pages cost less and come with a CD >>>>>too. >>>> >>>>You were not forced to buy the thesis. I am not forced to answer your post. >>>> >>>>Alessandro >>> >>>I didn't force anyone to read my post. Like it or ignore it! >> >>That's exactly what I wrote. But you didn't get the message between the lines: >>you were not forced to buy the book like I was not forced to answer your post. >>Clear now? >> >>Alessandro > >You are being difficult. > >He bought the book sight unseen, expecting a treat, and he didn't like it. I >can understand this reaction. There is not a lot of computer chess literature >that is dense with really useful stuff. You end up spending three of four times >what a mass-market hard-back would cost, and when you get it, it has one article >that you think is really good. > The content of his complain is that Ernst is doing usury: 1. many pages with test results just to "market his thesis" 2. the price is far too high for those 300 pages Of course the book was produced to make money. That is how life works. Oh man! The price is determined by the market. The market is quite small in this case since the book is a doctoral thesis on computer chess. It is not the product itself determining the price. Bruce, life is not so simplistic as expected, sometimes. But complaining after paying doesn't help much here: the book was already _paid_and_consumed_. That's why I replied to Arshad that way. There were more thoughts than words from my side. Sorry for that. Alessandro
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