Offer Too Good To Be True??
PaPaPeng
From my mailbox an offer to subscribe to a "The TIMES Comprehensive
Atlas Of The World 12th Ed." for $19.95. The claimed regular price is
$300 including other freebies in the package offer!!
The promoter is The Folio Society, prepaid envelope address PO Box
91009 STN MAIN, Pickering Ontario, L1W 9Z9.
The Atlas looks good and I'd willingly pay double ($40) for one. In
the reply coupon the small print implies I will agree to buy four
books from their Folio Catalogue (to be mailed). If I decline to join
I return the Atlas within 21 days but I can still keep their
leatherbound Compact Oxford Dictionary and Thesaurus and their Folio
Parker Pen that comes with my reply to their flyer.
This sounds too good to be true. I like an up to date Atlas. The
other freebies are nice but not that attractive a bait. What worries
me is the obligation to buy those four books. They may be stuff I
don't care to read and likely be overpriced to make up for their sales
promotion.
Has anyone any idea what books they offer and their prices?
rox
"PaPaPeng" <PaPa...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:dn0rr39ir8otn565a...@4ax.com...
They have really lovely books, but none of them are cheap. They produce
special limited editions. You'd need to be a collector of pretty book
editions to get your money's worth. Not a collector of rare books--just
pretty books. These aren't particularly rare.
I'd pass on that offer and just buy a good atlas.
Let me preface this by saying I have a bias--I used to work for Oxford
University Press. Having said that I think that they do put out the best
atlases. The current one is 14th edition and it is about $80. You can find
older or less comprehensive editions for less than $20 (I'm looking at
www.powells.com right now and can see a batch of them). For everyday use
an Oxford's Essential will do you good, or if you don't really consult it
that much and don't need a lot the Concise if very nice as well.
In general there are "levels" of atlas (like there are levels of
dictionary). It's about the level of detail. So when you compare atlases
you should be careful to compare one publishers "Essential" to an
"Essential" atlas from another publisher and not compare a "Concise" atlas
to a "Comprehensive" atlas--it will give you the wrong impression of the
relative merits of each.
Anthony Matonak
>
> From my mailbox an offer to subscribe to a "The TIMES Comprehensive
> Atlas Of The World 12th Ed." for $19.95. The claimed regular price is
> $300 including other freebies in the package offer!!
I routinely see "regular" price claims on TV commercials of hundreds
of dollars for items that can't retail for more than a couple of bucks.
I would take any price claims with a heaping truck full of salt.
> This sounds too good to be true. I like an up to date Atlas.
Who needs coffee table books when you have a computer?
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=world+atlas&btnG=Google+Search
For $300 you can purchase a nice computer (or two) to put on your
coffee table. :)
I've never been fond of book/music clubs. They may offer one or two
items that you like at a reasonable price but you're then obligated
to purchase junk at inflated prices.
There are plenty of book search engines out there.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=book+search&btnG=Search
Anthony
PaPaPeng
>I'd pass on that offer and just buy a good atlas.
Thanks for confirming my thoughts. The last thing I need is more
clutter.
Recently I received the National Geographic's Atlas of Modern China.
It is a fantastic reference source. The satellite map gives me a very
clear view of the terrain that cannot be reproduced in any plotted
map. The other uncluttered maps lets my follow the main rivers and
their tributaries, the continental shelf, military defence perimeters,
etc. I can now follow many of the narratives that often give little
else other than the river the archaelogical excavations are near to or
the river armies had to cross in epic historical battles.
I know free maps are available online. But somehow it is never quite
the same as a printed page. On paper I can quickly scan and notice
peripheral things I would never have noticed on an online map. Its
like going to a bookstore or a library. Around the book or subject I
am interested in are a lot more interesting things I never knew
existed.