Ave!

[Astra]

A quick Hello! from myself.
Just a few short months ago, I have found my way to ERE via the route of The Simple Dollar, Frugalwoods and MMM. Drawn in by the whitty writing and the science background, I quickly went from "is this Jacob dude serious?" to reading all the way back to 2008ish posts. I enjoy the site being more philosophical than your ususal " 10 ways to save BIG this chistmas"-type of frugality. I haven't gotten around to ordering the book yet. Do you guys and gals recommend it as additional reading to the blog?
I will start a journal with some more personal things, and hope to have a great time here!

[Dave]

Welcome, Astra!

Yes, I highly recommend reading the book.

[Fish]

Let me know if you need any more convincing to get the book. It’s one of the most influential books I’ve ever read (and I had experience with the blog, and the rest of the PF blog sector before reading it). Although the caveat is that we’re not all alike in personality or experience. The amazon reviews suggest that overall the majority have a very positive experience (62% 5-stars, 19% 4-stars). Of course, I’m here because I’m biased.

After much frustration with the chapter 7 equations as a reader of the Kindle edition(*), I would recommend the dead-tree version(**) of the ERE book. Besides, paper has resale value.

(*) The equations in Kindle appear as partially-rendered LaTeX code which is frustrating when there are lots of terms, or multiple layers of nested parentheses.

(**) I have no experience with the paper version. I just wish I had purchased it instead. So now I search for a used copy at garage sales and thrift stores. No luck yet.

[Campitor]

I recommend Jacob’s book as well. I particularly enjoyed his Cash Flow Cycles chapter. I bought the kindle version which was well formatted for e-reading.

[Dunkelheit]

Ave Astra, be welcomed to this community!

I also recommend you to pick the book and taking a deeper look at the blog and the forum. There are many gems here and very good advice from smart people.

Enjoy the stay!

[jacob]

After much frustration with the chapter 7 equations as a reader of the Kindle edition(*), I would recommend the dead-tree version(**) of the ERE book. Besides, paper has resale value.

(*) The equations in Kindle appear as partially-rendered LaTeX code which is frustrating when there are lots of terms, or multiple layers of nested parentheses.

(**) I have no experience with the paper version. I just wish I had purchased it instead. So now I search for a used copy at garage sales and thrift stores. No luck yet.

I recommend the dead-tree version for the same two reasons. The ERE book maintains resale value. Sometimes someone will dumb a copy for $7 below new price (say $14 with shipping). If you get that, you can resell it later near full price and recover most of your cost. Or you can just get/request it from the library.

The equations in the kindle version are more like fully rendered XML code. But HTML/XML happens to be rather limited when it comes to math---which is strange considering it came out of CERN?! If you're used to programming/reading code, it's alright; otherwise it's really annoying (especially for the S and M part of STEM ). The paper version is rendered to the very best of my ability. (I used to typeset documents for science/math journals professionally ... so the paper rendering is perfect to the nearest em and en dash )

Unlike most publishing houses which punt and cheat on the kindle-specs I actually followed them to the dot (self-published nerd) and so the ERE book takes advantage of all the "features" of the e-format as it was defined in 2010. The raw-format is essentially XML (html) and renders on any and all web browsers. I think I'm the only person who's ever beheld the beauty of that The kindle specs are rather limited and it mostly has to do with how kindle allows the reader to change font size/shape. Publishers cheat by embedding graphics; perhaps expecting that users won't stray from the default. I didn't. Because equations are XML code, they render in any size or shape ... if you we're semi-blind (visually) and needed the largest font and cheated by rendering equations via image, they would remain "normal size" as the rest of the text was boosted up (or down for the fast readers). Not here, not for the ERE book....

Another thing. Kindles originally came with a back-button (like browsers). Back-buttons are super-useful for hyperlinks. Since ERE is complex (but not compliated), I wrote the ERE book with several layers so that people could developing their insight by rereading it and rereading it again to suddenly see parts that were previously "not seen due to lack of import" eventually come into focus. My aspiration was Musashi's Book of Five Rings which can be read equally by experts and novices with both getting something but not the same out of it. Aside from rereading, hyperlinking provides an additional way of doing that. Some people like that ... others HATE it (see reviews). At least with the paperback you can flip back and forth. Might be annoying but if so, just don't do it, Jeez! ...

However, some of the cheap-ass kindle readers DO NOT have a back-button option, so if you click on a hyperlink in the e-book, you could not go back again... not fun for people who prefer their books in the form of a linear narrative (I presume some idiot manager eliminated the back-button as a cost-cutting measure. ARGH. This actually caused the kindle version to go out of print for a brief period in 2016 because someone complained. (For the exasperated reader who did that: I get it. For the MBA-level clowns at KDP: ARGH!!!!) Now the back-button is restored. I hope this was in part because of my complaining about the complaint.)

tl;dr - Get the paper version.

[Astra]

I got the paper version (mmh, glorious LaTeX layout is balm to my sore eyes), as I prefer paper books for the handling and not running out of battery. Not sure about the resale value in this particular case, I suppose the demand is quite small (no offense). Currently selling almost all my books online, and in my expericence the market is very small, even more so for niche topics and/or foreign language books (specific examples: english homebrewing and meadmaking instructions, chinese folk tales and children's books, french literature and erotica, german mathematics/phiosophy, original japanese manga, science textbooks on mass spectrometry, psychoactive drugs, quantum physics or X-ray crystallography). I'm guessing ERE qualifies as niche. I thought these retain value pretty well, but it turns out nobody wants them used or nobody finds my listings. Or evenyone is using an e-reader anyway
Makes me sad if its a special book to me - I know if I give it to goodwill they will probably trash my treasures.

Anyway, not planning to get rid of the ERE book anytime soon.

[Chris]

I share your feelings about donating niche books: they're more likely to end up pulped than appreciated. But I have had luck in selling, sometimes surprisingly.

I was once alone on a bus in Atlanta, and started talking to the bus driver. He was telling me about his past life of pimping, and that he'd self-published a fictional account of it. I told him I'd read it, and did so. Probably the only way I would have discovered his book is to have met him, and as a self-published paperback, how big could the market be for resale? But sure enough, almost three years after listing, I sold my copy on Amazon. Much sooner than I expected!

The long tail is loooooooong.

[jacob]

My general experience when selling my used books on amazon.com (US):
Sales rank ~ 10,000 resells within a few days.
Sales rank ~ 100,000 resells within a few weeks.
Sales rank ~ 1,000,000 resells within a few years.
This timetable is contingent on you maintaining the lowest price. I update mine daily.

PS: Used (very good) ERE book is currently sitting there for $12.99 with free shipping. I doubt that's going be there for very long.

[brighteye]

<t>Absolutely get the book (paper version). I would never sell mine, as I re-read parts of it every year. I find that the learnings I get out of it change with my experience on ERE. It hasn't stopped teaching me yet (I had it for about 4 years).

[Astra]

Agreed, Amazon US surely makes selling books easier.

Unfortunately, Amazon has no presence where I currently live and sending abroad quickly explodes postage costs. I'm posting everything on a national site, but the market is very small and I still get people bartering over shipping costs. I'm quite active now in the swapping network, where I don't get money, but points to be traded for other people's media. Almost all my books, movies and games are up for swap now (except the ones I'm still reading). Neat solution, I have over 4k in points now, so I'll not be buying any more books or DVDs in the near future.