First, for anyone (like me) looking to buy either of the
two books by Mr. Slack(_Carnivorous_Plants_ and _Insect-Eating_
Plants_And_How_to_Grow_Them), they are both out of print
(including the more recent paperback run of _Carnivorous_Plants_).
This is straight from the mouths of the publishers - who also
don't have any to sell.
I've called *every* bookstore in my area (*big* area encompassing
Northern Virgina, DC, and Maryland suburbs of DC) that would
possibly carry such books. I didn't bother to call Christian
bookstores, new age bookstores, computer bookstores etc. That
still left a lot of retail and used book stores.
Most of the stores indicated they had never had either of the
books on the shelves - OK, I can accept that. They are on a
fairly obscure subject and printed by obscure publishers (MIT
Press for _CP_ and U of Washington Press for the other). A couple
said that they listed them as orderable - but only if they were
still in print.
What's most irritating - I found bookstore that said they not only
used to carry both books but that they were selling so well that
they couldn't keep them on the shelves; they were apparently sold
within a few days of coming into the store. The employee I talked
to said that there seemed to be a very large increase in the
interest in these books over the past year. The last copy of
either he had seen was about 6 mos ago but he had talked to a number
of people looking for copies.
Why if these books are selling so well, are they going out of
print (the Cheers book too, if information presented here is any
indication)? Where have all the copies of these books gone to?
Are there thousands of people out there with their home bogs
waiting to join our little discussion group? Why hasn't anything
more recent been published?
Anyway, enough complaining. I at least found a bookstore (in NY
somewhere) willing to start a (free) search for me (that's another
thing - some of the companies that do searches for out of print
books charge what seems to me to be very high rates [one place
wanted $20 to start the search and $10 a month until the book was
located - OUCH! for a $9.95 volume!])
If you happen to see a copy of these books for sale (especially
_IEPAHTGT_), please let me know. I really would like a copy!
Dave
--
David Purks
Alcatel Data Networks
uunet!telenet.com!dkpurks