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View Full Version : Book "On the Edge" Vs "...rise and fall of commodore"



Tiago
30th March 2011, 13:52
Hi,
i am reading the "On the Edge" from Brian Bagnall. The book is like a new revision of the previous book
"The Spectacular Rise and Fall of Commodore".
So far after +/- 60 pages, it looks the same, some new stuff, but the major story is the same, there are
a lot of parts, that are exactly equal to the previous one.
i was aspecting something new, but basicly it's the same book, at least the first pages....
Is anyone reading the book?

I think Brian Bagnall is preparing a 2nd book (3th?) that is more focus on the amiga years.

Harrison
30th March 2011, 15:08
It is the same book. You probably purchased revision 2 of the book.

The full title of the book is "On the Edge.. the rise and fall of Commodore"

BTW, where did you manage to get the book from? I've been trying to buy a copy for a very long time (years) but haven't been able to find a copy for sale anywhere. And I'm still looking.

Teho
30th March 2011, 16:06
I think Tiago is talking about the new edition which is called Commodore: A Company on the Edge. I've bought it, but haven't read it yet so can't comment on the differences. I got mine from maz-sound.com (http://www.maz-sound.com), a great site where I've bought many other such things like the demoscene Freax books, the Mindcandy DVDs, the Immortal CDs which contain Amiga game music remakes by the original composers and so on.

They have this in the product description for the new edition:
The new book is a heavily reworked edition with about 40% added material: content reordered: opposed to topic-based chapters (1st edition) it's now in chronological order for more fluid reading ("real-time") 15 new interviews incl. additional fact-checking with Chuck Peddle, Bil Herd and Bob Yannes, lots of new pictures and more
Because of the amount of new content Brain decided to split the two decades of the Commodore history into two parts. The current book is Part 1 (1974-1984), dealing with the period up until Jack Tramiel leaves. Part 2 (slated for 2012) will tell the post-Tramiel years with the Amiga (1984-1994).

So the book should be fairly different from the original and worth a re-read.

Tiago
30th March 2011, 16:36
Yes, Teho is right,
It's a new edition, it has new interviews, new photos, and some other stuff.

40% added material.... looks less in first pages... i hope it changes in last ones....
the part where he talks about MOS and chuck peddle, and the team working with the 6502 chip, it's almost copy/paste from last book...
but i am sure later chapters will be different.

where do i get it?
first edition from amikit.com i think... and this one from amazon (USA).

If you didnt read it yet, you MUST !! It's a mandatory book for any Amiga/commodore Fan
Very interesting stuff about Commodore ni the 70s, i enjoy a lot, reading about the "almost" aquisition of Apple by Commodore!!
And the way they negotiate BASIC with Bill Gates. Many many stuff that i ddnt know and that it's not reaten in history books.

Harrison
31st March 2011, 12:14
I hadn't realised a new version has already been released. I had it in my watch list on Amazon UK but it must have been a different entry in their site because I was never notified. I just looked on Amazon UK and they have it in stock so it is now ordered. Looking forward to reading this. :)

As I understand it from the reviews this book stops at the Amiga, and a second book is currently in development that will cover the Amiga era. Is that correct? I always throught the original On the Edge covered the Amiga. :unsure:

Tiago
31st March 2011, 13:40
As I understand it from the reviews this book stops at the Amiga, and a second book is currently in development that will cover the Amiga era. Is that correct? I always throught the original On the Edge covered the Amiga.


First book, goes from type-writers, kim-1, Pet, etc... etc...C64...etc... to amiga 4000, but less then 10% of the book is about amiga stuff
Second book, is also from type-writers but only till Amiga, it stops there, and a 3rd book will cover the amiga years

Harrison
31st March 2011, 15:32
So is the second book basically the first book with the part about the Amiga removed, and additional content added to the existing stuff already written?

If so, this means the author decided he needed to expand more and so has really re-written the book, splitting it into 2 books to cover the 2 eras of Commodore in greater depth?

Do you know what the third book is going to be called?

Tiago
31st March 2011, 19:45
So is the second book basically the first book with the part about the Amiga removed, and additional content added to the existing stuff already written?
If so, this means the author decided he needed to expand more and so has really re-written the book, splitting it into 2 books to cover the 2 eras of Commodore in greater depth?

Exactly !
I dont think there is a name yet for the 3rd book

StuKeith
17th April 2011, 14:51
May sale my copy I have. might re read it 1st tough.

StuKeith
27th February 2013, 19:37
Anyone wanna buy my copy?