UPDATED: Commodore Book: A Company on the Edge 2nd Edition

[administrator]

Brian Bagnal has produced an updated version of his famous COMMODORE: A COMPANY ON THE EDGE which is NOW on Amazon for delivery beginning Dec 15, 2010.

Brian says:

"...For this edition there were 15 new interviews done (over 35 hours in addition to the previous 44 hours) and a ton of new pictures. Also reorganized the book so it is entirely chronological, which is a much better read in my opinion. And of course the fact checking/corrections from the first edition..."

If you want this book click

[rbernardo]

Well, I clicked on the link but found no date for shipping.

Truly,

[administrator]

Hi Robert;

Brian says it will ship mid-December and Amazon has it flagged for December 15th 2010.

...Publisher: Variant Press; Second edition edition (Dec 15 2010)

[sixstringmonk]

Excellent. The chronology was the only beef I had with the book. I'll be picking this up.

[rbernardo]

Brian says it will ship mid-December...

I will send Brian a message and re-verify. (How many times before had Amazon announced a date and then pulled it?) If Brian confirms, I can spread the news.

Looking forward to the new edition,

[rbernardo]

I will send Brian a message and re-verify.

Confirmed! Here is what I'm sending out --

It's been a long time in coming, but Brian Bagnall, author of the book, "On the Edge: the Spectacular Rise and Fall of Commodore", has confirmed that his new book, "Commodore: A Company on the Edge", is at the printer right now and will be shipped soon. In fact, at Amazon.com there is page that says that Variant Press will release the book on December 15. Just in time for Christmas!

To see the initial announcement, go to



Think of the new book as a second edition of On the Edge. Here is what Brian had to say, "It was a long road and a lot of work to get the second edition into shape. There was so much new information from the 15 additional interviews and tons of pictures that I had to split the book into two parts. A Company on the Edge deals with the period up until Tramiel leaves and the second part (slated for 2012) will tell the post-Tramiel years with the Amiga. Each book deals with about a 10 year period, and a lot of players change in 1984 so it worked out to be a pretty good split."

Truly,

[administrator]

Yesterday I received this:

You can buy the book here:

A follow-up book titled Commodore: a Company on the Edge is now available from VariantPress.com. This is a heavily reworked edition with about 40% new material. Includes more interviews, a chronological reordering and 50 new period photographs. Readers can now relive the Commodore experience in real-time. This book would make an excellent gift for those who own the previous book.
Includes new first-hand interviews:

• Brian Dougherty - GEOS developer
• John Feagans - PET developer
• Andy Finkel - Commodore game developer
• Bill Gardei - C65 systems engineer
• Neil Harris - Commodore game developer and marketing
• Manfred Kapp - Commodore co-founder
• Dale Luck - Amiga developer
• Bill Mensch - 6502 and 65816 designer
• Dick Sanford - Chief Financial Officer of Commodore
• Bill Seiler - PET, VIC-20 systems engineer/surfer
• Kit Spencer - Commodore's marketing guru
• Yash Terakura - Commodore Japan engineer
• Michael Tomczyk - VIC product manager and marketing

These are just a few of the stories in Commodore: a Company on the Edge:
• How current Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata began his career programming VIC-20 games for Commodore.
• The true story of actor William Shatner's association with Commodore.
• A terrifying firsthand account of the PET Jet disaster.

This book will be available in stores in about a month. If you need it in time for Christmas, signed copies are available from Variant Press.

The site provides the following spec:

Commodore: a Company on the Edge tells the story of the pioneering Commodore computers through first-hand accounts by former engineers and managers.
548 pages
Hardcover with Dust Jacket
6" by 9"
2 pounds (907 grams)
ISBN 9780973864960
Available November 26, 2010

[administrator]

It's HEEEEERE!

Amazon now shows it as, "In Stock" and it is just $21. Very Very cheap for a substantial hardcover book.

To get directly to the book on Amazon click:

[Claus]

I already read the first edition of this book. In approx. 2 or 3 days. So I am very interested in the new edition. Is it worth to buy it, is there much more information in it as in the first edition?

Thanks
Claus

PS: A German Version would be great...

[rbernardo]

Is it worth to buy it, is there much more information in it as in the first edition?

Yes, more information. The author took the first half of the 2005 edition and doubled the amount of information for the new book. I suppose that when the next book, "Commodore: the Amiga Years", comes out in 2012, it will be the second half of the 2005 edition with double the amount of information.

FCUG celebrating 30 years,

[Claus]

... thanks a lot for the reply. I will order the book immediatley.

Greets CLaus

PS: If there will be plans to bring out a German version, let me know. I know a lot of good translators...

[Claus]

Well I found a German translation of the book maybe there are any German users interested in that...
http://gameplan.de/gameplan_VC/

[rbernardo]

Hmm, this seems to be an altered version of the first edition of the book. The second edition only goes up to 1984, whereas this German version goes up to 1994 just as the first edition did.

Truly,

[bbagnall]

Thanks to everyone for their interest in the book! I wanted to post an update and answer some questions here. The book is now available in wide release. There was some craziness for a while on Amazon regarding the pricing of the book and availability but it seems to be ironed out now. You can also go to your local bookstore and if they don't have a copy they should be able to order it in relatively quickly.

We're currently looking into ways to make it easier for Europeans, especially in the UK, to get their hands on the book. I've heard it can be painfully slow and expensive to order the book from North America, so hopefully we'll have a solution soon for readers to get the book locally. The same goes for Australia, which is especially slow and costly.

Regarding the German edition, as Robert mentioned this is quite outdated as the translation was based on "On the Edge". German readers who want the updated material would be best to wait for a translation of "Commodore: a Company on the Edge".

I hope those of you who have the new book are enjoying it. Don't hesitate to email me your frank comments and criticisms.

[administrator]

bump