Print quality "The Art of Electronics 3RD" ?

[onesixright]

Hi all,

Today my book "The Art of Electronics" (amazon.co.uk) came in. But after opening, i was quiet disappointed with the "quality".  There are a few issues with the binding, some outer small damage and wrinkles. Also some pages are stick together on the top (not a big deal, but i would hate to tear a page).

Is the the normal state of the book (can't imagine) .... 

Amazon offers me a 20% discount, but i'm not sure. If the next version isn't much better i might as well take it.

See the pictures.

Thanks!

[jancumps]

Mine also came from Amazon. It doesn't look anything like that.
It arrived in good shape, no issues.

[timofonic]

WTF!

Did they pee on the book? What happened?

It's disappointing if an expensive book has such quality.

I'm waiting for the "3.1" or "deluxe definitive two book" Edition with the erratas get fixed. I hope they do it, there's a lot of them!

Last errata:

PAGE LOCATION DESCRIPTION FOUND BY DATE
296right column, line -8change 7mAh to 70mAh Philipp Marek 20150907

http://artofelectronics.net/errata/


Did they really proofread it?

[onesixright]

Thanks, i could also not imagine that a somewhat 'prestiges' book would be like this.

With regard to the errata, well 1200 pages 

Any realistic change there will be a 2 book version?

[TassiloH]

Wrinkles are not normal, mine looks just fine.

Btw., when ordering from Amazon within Europe, look at the different local Amazon pages. Amazon.de wants around 75 EUR, amazon.it around 48 EUR. One can log in with the same account on both. From amazon.de to Germany shipping was free. From amazon.it, shipping was around 6 or 7 EUR to Germany, so still over 20 EUR cheaper. And after ordering from amazon.it, it still shipped from the warehouse in Germany.

[onesixright]

Hehe, yeah i noticed. I ordered it from co.uk.

The pricing within Europe is ludicrous  !

[Terabyte2007]

I received my copy from Amazon and it was perfect! I would send that back and get a replacement. Amazon is very good with replacing defective items.

[timofonic]

Thanks, i could also not imagine that a somewhat 'prestiges' book would be like this.

With regard to the errata, well 1200 pages 

Any realistic change there will be a 2 book version?

Are you joking at me?

They had YEARS to make the third edition and yet they can't put an army of EEs, Psysics and mathematicians to check it? This isn't an average book, but a mythical one used as a worldwide reference.

Even sending free editions to a bunch of reliable people would have busted a good bunch of erratas found.

Well, maybe you know more about book editing than me, but it doesn't make sense to me. Please explain it to me about what I'm wrong, I would like to learn about it.

[Eartoot]

What leads you to believe that this army of people haven't reduced the number of errata to it's current level? It's hardly surprising that when exposed to thousands of eyeballs that mistakes even the most diligent of reviewers missed will come to light.

[onesixright]

Hey Circuiteromalaguito, don’t be to hard. Did you read the preface? They had a ton of people helping out.

You ever had the joy of editing a 1200 pages document (and coordinate changes)? I tell you it a impressive task for those that did.

This you don’t load up in your Word, add some images and click te spelling checker (doubtful if your computer would still work :-). Thats why they used LaTeX (http://www.latex-project.org). Coordinating the changes is a hell of a job. I believe its inevitable that errors wil be made. Unfortunately.

There are a lot of numbers, formulas and abbreviations in, which makes it even harder to check. Graphs and illustrations are not just linked straight from the source (excel, etc.), but first processed in illustrator, photoshop, etc. And if you consider the typeface, it could easily be 1600 pages.

Anyway, i’m impressed (not by the quality of the print, as i received it ...), that what i read is top notch!

I'm sure that, for the authors, they bite their lip for every mistake found. I actually think the errata is not that long (yet), considering the content… Read my emails and you have a errata already that size, well ok 1/2 the size 

Its a keeper, and kudos to the authors! Wouldn’t want to miss this one for the world.

Finally a book worth the bookshelf space.

[John_ITIC]

I bought my copy of AOE3 from one of the 3rd party sellers on Amazon.com. The book was shipped from India. The pages were somewhat "wavy" and the printing was kind of a little bit "crooked".  It seems less than perfect copies are sent to "low wage" countries?

Overall, I paid some $65 (I believe) so well worth less than perfect condition. For a full-priced book, I would expect perfect condition. Send back for replacement.

[jancumps]

...Send back for replacement.

If you'd rather have a better book than 20% discount, I'd say yes.
I'm quite sure that Amazon would send a new book if they are shown the state this one is in.

I personally would go for the discount and spend it on something else I want - if the book is usable and doesn't smell moldy. But that's really personal; I respect that when you buy a new book, you expect and enforce that you get an undamaged exemplar.

[Bud]

Mine came from a warehouse in Canada (bought from Amazon Canada) in almost perfect shape, just one wrinkle on one of the front pages. No wavy pages at all and printing looks nice. However in terms of contents IMHO by far not the best book. I think ARRL Handbooks have materials organized better.

[tggzzz]

I'm waiting for the "3.1" or "deluxe definitive two book" Edition with the erratas get fixed. I hope they do it, there's a lot of them!

IIRC the "x chapters" are coming in a year or so. That will turn it into the two book edition.

[tggzzz]

They had YEARS to make the third edition and yet they can't put an army of EEs, Psysics and mathematicians to check it?

Clearly you have never proofread something complex, ready for publication.

And you managed to misspell "psychics".

[onesixright]

Thanks for the responses.

I asked for a bigger discount, and they agreed. So i keep the book, most of my book are ebooks, so their you don't have that problem 

A real box on the table has its charme!

[onesixright]

Well, after Dave's video (unboxing,  counterfeit copy of Art of Electronics),  it clicked, indeed their was something wrong with the printing 

I suspect its a counterfeit version! Thanks Dave!

I talked to Amazon, they will refund it and i will be ordering a official one  .

[ealex]

Mine from Amazon Uk as well ( around November 2015 ) ... and it looks like the one form the first photo.
also, they did not package it properly -> damaged corners and spine ( book just loose in a thin cardboard box 2 times it's size)

[onesixright]

@ealex,

Check the chapter headers. If the gray-ish block is not nice parallel, im pretty sure you also have a copy.  I contacted Amazon, and they took it back without any problems. I have now a new  one (via amazon.co.uk) and made sure it was delivered by Amazon. The new copy I now have, and its so much better!

[linux-works]

for a while, I was tracking the price on amazon and was tempted to go for the $60ish price that was there for a few months.  then, I think what happened was that amazon weeded out the fakes and the price jumped 'back' up again.

amazon reviews talk about getting different text (slightly) in some pages or various levels of update.  different levels of quality in the print, bind, etc.  like the book was literally copied, physically, but close enough that it could almost pass.

I can't justify $80+ for a book these days; and I really want a searchable version, not a dead tree version.

[onesixright]

Well, its true that you can search easy. They should give us a voucher to redeem the digital copy as-well ...

But a book like this has its charm...

[linux-works]

shelf space matters to me.  I also tend to move every so often and moving/packing books is not fun or cheap.

[ANTALIFE]

Hope you didn't get a fake copy...
http://artofelectronics.net/the-book/counterfeit-editions/