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Yoga Mala in paperback??

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Today the "Yoga Mala" I ordered only last week

from Jivamukti Yoga Centre in NYC finally arrived to

my address. I'm happy to have the opportunity at

last to read Guruji's famous book. Never mind though,

that actually I ordered only one copy of the book, and

got 2 copies instead - so that I have to pay the

double price now. But perhaps I must feel lucky in the

circumstances: since what I've got is quite possibly the most

cheapest paperback I've ever seen. One of the copies broke

apart already as soon as I opened it - the pages are

not bound, they are simply fixed together with glue.

Beautiful pictures, I agree. But for $25 - the price I paid

for ONE copy - we here in Germany would get the most

decently bound hardcover edition you can have, plus a dust

jacket. Perhaps we Europeans are just spoilt. However,

didn't someone here say "Yoga Mala" is a hardback? I

think to remember that an outspoken lady once told this

board that she used her copy to strike

ganglions....Well, sure enough my copy would survive not one such

stroke. I feel like I've been duped, somehow.<br><br>Just

this: why not give Sri Jois' unique document on Astanga

Yoga into the hands of a decent publisher who knows

how to do his work properly? Guruji's book does not

deserve to be edited in such an obviously dilettante way!

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Hey there. Sorry you got a bad copy of Yoga Mala.

Mine has held up well, all pages intact. I'm sure you

could exchange it but it may not be worth the trouble.

The English version of Yoga Mala has not ever been

available in hardback as far as I know. I have not seen the

original version from 1962. I'm sure that a tremendous

amount of work went into translating and publishing this

book and we should be thankful to Eddie Stern for this

effort. If you buy a lot of books you will find that

there are quite a few paperbacks of all sizes and

quality that are priced well in excess of $25.00. Books

in hardback and paperback in America and in Europe

will vary greatly in price. Many factors enter into

the pricing. In this case the book has a very limited

market so there is no way to recoup expenses through

volume of sales. Also, due to the limited market, this

book would not be likely to be picked up by a major

publisher. Publishing a book can be a very difficult,

time-consuming, and expensive project. I think Eddie did a great

job on this and we are lucky that he chose to do it.

Anyway, just some thoughts for you. Glad you got the

book! Enjoy.

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TLS - Thank you for your thoughts. I am sure

Eddie Stern did a TREMENDOUS effort when editing

Guruji's "Yoga Mala" in English. I'm most thankful to him

for this. You are right that I duly failed to

acknowledge this in my post.<br><br>However, it would be nice

if some day the Mala would be published in a more

robust edition. One of the 2 copies I got only today (!)

is falling to pieces already - just as I opened it.

I'm wondering how the book will look like in 10

years, say... I must feel lucky that Jivamukti sent me 2

copies, although I ordered only one, actually. The

contents of the book (text & pictures) is perfect as it

is. Regarding the binding though, I think there's

still some room for improvements to be made. After all,

this is the most important work on Astanga Yoga

published so far, isn't it?

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Yes it would be nice if the book was published in

a high-quality hardback edition someday. I doubt

that will happen and if it did, the book would be even

more expensive. I think we can say that this book is

basically "self-published" and I bet that Eddie tried to

chose a good press to manufacture it. I would call it

"high-quality" as compared to many other paperbacks. Since mine

is good and one of yours is good, the bad one may

just be a defect or who knows what it went through in

shipping. One thing you might look into is that there are

people who repair and rebind books. I don't know much

about it but you might ask in libraries. It may not

cost too much to fix that book up nicely. You could

also email Jivamukti and see what they can do for you.

Nothing lasts forever. But it is a special book, for

sure.

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