I saw a book in one of Tom's Reports that I thought might be nice to peruse, perhaps put on my coffee table: The Amazon : Limnology and Landscape Ecology of a Mighty Tropical River and its Basin, ed by H. Sioli.
Then I go to amazon.com to check out the price: $575!!! Yes, it is 800 pp, but I would have to get a much more expensive coffee table, to justify getting this book for it.
I realize that scholarly books don't have a large market and therefore have to be more expensive (I guess to extrot research libraries and institutions that "have to" have them.) But at some point, doesn't the reverse law come into effect: Scholarly books don't have a market because they are priced too high. Take a look at what Aquatic Botany costs to subscribe. These books and journals are out of the price range of public libraries these days. So unless you are a student or an alum of a university that both gets eveything and allows its alums access (fortunately I am), you will never get to see this stuff.
Just venting,
Darrell
PS None of this justifies what TFH charges for books with minimal information and glossy pictures. But that's a different subject. (More venting.)
Then I go to amazon.com to check out the price: $575!!! Yes, it is 800 pp, but I would have to get a much more expensive coffee table, to justify getting this book for it.
I realize that scholarly books don't have a large market and therefore have to be more expensive (I guess to extrot research libraries and institutions that "have to" have them.) But at some point, doesn't the reverse law come into effect: Scholarly books don't have a market because they are priced too high. Take a look at what Aquatic Botany costs to subscribe. These books and journals are out of the price range of public libraries these days. So unless you are a student or an alum of a university that both gets eveything and allows its alums access (fortunately I am), you will never get to see this stuff.
Just venting,
Darrell
PS None of this justifies what TFH charges for books with minimal information and glossy pictures. But that's a different subject. (More venting.)