The fact that you can buy PR AR copies in Ebay
seems so... should I say it? Gibsonian...
But 150 bucks? Amazing. Mr Bill should be getting a cut ,after all HE wrote the book. Ill wait for the UK or US hardcover at least.

... did someone really pay that much for a PR ARC? Was there something special about it?

quote:

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Originally posted by RUR:
The fact that you can buy PR AR copies in Ebay
seems so... should I say it? Gibsonian...
But 150 bucks? Amazing. Mr Bill should be getting a cut ,after all HE wrote the book. Ill wait for the UK or US hardcover at least.

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quote:

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Originally posted by martin:
... did someone really pay that much for a PR ARC? Was there something special about it?

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This link should show all the recently closed ebay auctions for the ARC:
http://search-completed.ebay.com/search/search.dll?GetResult&query=pattern+recognition+gibson&from=R8&ht=1&combine=y&st=2&SortProperty=MetaEndSort

I blame Slashdot. Nobody realized it was available until they put out that article, and demand just skyrocketed.

... is it? The book proper is going to be out soon, and thiese kinds of actions will probably help it sell better, or at least draw more interest. But still, "WoW", that's a large chunk of green to pay for an book, especially an unsigned ARC.

EBay is another country. They do things differently there.

EBay is all bubble, all the time. I was wondering what a mention in Pattern Recognition would do to the price of Curta calculators on EBay. I've noticed that (with most other things) the price of Curtas has dropped on EBay significantly in the last 6 months. Will it come back up? Either way, does that mean anything?

As a fan (like Gibson & Cayce) of flea markets and thrift stores, I love EBay, because it makes it possible to find things I desperately desired for years -- like papier-maché pumpkins. But it also makes it much harder to find those little corners of the universe where there is no one who knows what a papier-maché pumpkin costs in, say, Brooklyn, or San Francisco, or Seattle....

To me, Pattern Recognition is (in part) about the finding of these things, the happenstance of their valuation, and the ephemerality of value itself. Whether they are Russian military watches or Curta calculators or papier-maché pumpkins or galleys of Pattern Recongition, these are objects whose value is independent of functionality. The value is "pure" in some way, because they are not necessary objects.


Eileen

.... I remember having a hankering for a curta, afte r all I remember seeing the adverts in old british car magazines for some curta device that could be used by the navigator during an automobile rally race, but the prices shook me out of that fancy. Russian watches? I have two, a Kommandirski and a Generalerski [spelling?] (basically Boctok tourist watches). One of the reasons I had to go see Portobello Market, one the places I'd have to visit again if I ever suffer a monetary windfall of greavous proportions.

I went to the Ismailskii Park flea market when I was in Moscow a year ago, looking for a watch of incredibly bad taste that a friend of mine in New York had to have. (No preternaturally well-crafted military watch, this. We won't even go into what the second-hand did.) I found two, at a great price.

If you know what you're buying and can haggle viciously, you can find amazing things there. (I could have bought half the Russian space program, not to mention a few dozen heartfelt amateur paintings of Stalin.) A deep knowledge of Russian is probably not necessary. "Nyet" and "Eto ochen dorogoy" ("no" and "that's very expensive") will go a long way. And I bet there's a lot more stuff there in the summertime....


Eileen



[QUOTE]Originally posted by martin:
....Russian watches? I have two, a Kommandirski and a Generalerski [spelling?] (basically Boctok tourist watches). One of the reasons I had to go see Portobello Market, one the places I'd have to visit again if I ever suffer a monetary windfall of greavous proportions.[/QUOTE

... I've heard of that place, lots of soviet era tech to be had. I've seen someone's pictures of stuff from there, such as a table full of soviet peaked caps, cosmonaut's helmet, g-suit, tank periscope (I think).

I'm really disappointed with all of the rules ebay has slowly been implementing. I know that they have some ethical compulsion to protect the copyright holders of the world (or is it only a legal compulsion?) but I've found very little there of interest lately. I'd really like to find more of an untapped "auction" site where things are treated more like a flea market (with less car parts and flea bitten oriental rugs please)and less like an e-marketplace.

Plus, now that they've got their grimey mitts on Paypal they get to hit their sellers who use their various services with two fees. Is it possible for someone to create a site that just exists as a jumping off point for people to sell their used goods (including highly sought after ARCs) without having to crush the life and spontanaity out of everything? Next thing you know, they'll be requiring folks to report their auction income.

Oh wait, this isn't the disgruntled ebay users forum. Sorry chums.

...I usually spellcheck everything I post, allowing me to be completely sloppy both in mind and with my keying. This last time, though, I screwed up and didn't do it correctly. So, just so everyone knows, I can spell (more or less), I'm not 11 (though I have fooled some), and I'm not usually so apologetic (sorry).

-Looking forward to a time when my computer thinks for me.

I don't know who sold anyone a copy for $150; I got mine for $30. But just because I have the proof doesn't mean I'm not going to buy the real deal; Mr. Gibson says it's like a variant text, so I'm probably going to spend a month with both copies open and a highlighter stuck in my hand. I got my copy today, and.......God. No spoilers, lemme just say that it's just as amazing as we wanted it to be.

Down under water I'm pale blue
Deep down the chlorine smells like you
Was it you that held too tight?
Was it me that was too weak?
I will leave you where you lay
As I slip and slide away

I bought an ARC from Ebay and didn't shell out $150 for it. It was well worth the extra $$ to have a limited distribution. I'm almost half way through the book, and I love it!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2904622158&category=26181