How to Order Gnarly Branches, Ancient Trees (while you still can)

grouper52

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Hi everyone. After posting my thread here about viewing and perhaps ordering photos from my book, Gnarly Branches, Ancient Tress - the Life and Work of Dan Robinson, Bonsai Pioneer, I received a private message asking me to tell people how they can order one of the few remaining new copies.

It can be easily done at www.elandangardens.com.

The photos I posted to Smug Mug can be viewed at http://narapress.smugmug.com/Gnarly-Bonsai-by-Dan-Robinson/

I hope that helps.

G52
 

grouper52

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Grouper52,

As the PM'er, I hope you had 3 left!

Regards,
Martin

Hi Martin,

I think there are very likely to be at least three left. I was just there last weekend and signed ten books, and Dan's wife, Diane, who runs the store and the business aspect of things, indicated there were at least a few more boxes left. Tell her you want one signed by both Dan and I. Let me know if there are any problems with that.

Will/G52
 

bonsaibp

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Definitely a book to own. The photos are amazing as is Dans story. All in all a very inspirational book.
 

Kodama16

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Just heard from her. There was a hacking and she lost the orders. Go ahead and email her your recipe today
 

grouper52

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I'm curious, after all Diane's files were hacked, did anyone have success getting in touch with her and getting their books? Let me know if I can be of any help.

If anyone purchased any of the photos of Dan's trees on SmugMug, I'd also be curious to know if they arrived in acceptable condition and were worth the purchase. I've noticed that the company that is charged with fulfilling orders for them has only a limited range of croppings they offer, and many of the photos won't crop well for their printings the way the photos are currently loaded - I may go back and alter the dimensions of the black background borders so that they will do so.

I think I mentioned that, since I had no interest in doing another printing of Gnarly Branches, I donated the rights and all the files to the Robinson family a while back, in case they ever wanted to produce another printing or another edition. The first printing is all but gone now, I do believe, and a while back Diane asked if I could help them look into the machinations needed for another printing - at reasonable cost! Well, the only way that could happen, most likely, was to get the Chinese company that did the first edition to do it, and only then if they still had the printable PDF files they were kind enough to translate back then from my archaic, and now likely hopelessly outdated InDesign files. And that was only a possibility if I could re-connect with that Chinese company through the American go-between that made the deal way back then, and his email was no longer valid, and my initial attempts to track him down led me to believe he might not even still be around . . . After a number of attempts to track him down, I finally connected with him again today, and he's trying to see if it can be done. If so, I'll put him in touch with Diane, and there may be a second printing - probably smaller - in the making soon.

The fellow has a complimentary copy of the book, BTW, and spoke kindly about how beautiful it is - and I agreed with him, admitting however that I was always amazed that a guy like me - neither a writer nor a photographer nor a publisher - could have ever created such a book. It still shocks the heck out of me. :)
 

Si Nguyen

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Hi Grouper, just FYI, I love your book. It is one of the best book on bonsai out there. Most bonsai books are just picture books or how-to books, and they take about 10 minutes to read. Yours actually have a great long story about a cool pioneer. You took the reader on a very interesting journey. The peaceful feeling of the Pacific Northwest really came thru. The pictures of trees and landscapes were fantastic and added a lot to the story. I think may be just a few more pictures of the wild shorelines and forests of the Pacific Northwest (without humans in them) is all that is needed in the next edition. Glad to hear you'll be printing again. More people should read this book.

Dan Robinson was lucky to have a writer like you to chronicle his life's pursuit in such a beautiful way. You are really good at writing. You should write a book about John Naka.
 

grouper52

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Hi Grouper, just FYI, I love your book. It is one of the best book on bonsai out there. Most bonsai books are just picture books or how-to books, and they take about 10 minutes to read. Yours actually have a great long story about a cool pioneer. You took the reader on a very interesting journey. The peaceful feeling of the Pacific Northwest really came thru. The pictures of trees and landscapes were fantastic and added a lot to the story. I think may be just a few more pictures of the wild shorelines and forests of the Pacific Northwest (without humans in them) is all that is needed in the next edition. Glad to hear you'll be printing again. More people should read this book.

Dan Robinson was lucky to have a writer like you to chronicle his life's pursuit in such a beautiful way. You are really good at writing. You should write a book about John Naka.

Si Nguyen, thanks for your kind words. They mean a lot to me, knowing that the book did what I was hoping it would for other people.

As for writing another book like this in this field, however . . . well, I'm flattered, but to get a view on the reality of the matter let me just quote Mark Twain quoting Huck Finn: " . . . and so there ain't nothing more to write about, and I am rotten glad of it, because if I'd a knowed what a trouble it was to make a book I wouldn't a tackled it and I ain't agoing to no more." :)
 

MidMichBonsai

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Got mine as a Christmas present. Absolutely beautiful! Thanks to those "B-nutters" who worked on this project. This was something I've wanted for a while and it's more than I hoped for. Very grateful...
 

Si Nguyen

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Si Nguyen, thanks for your kind words. They mean a lot to me, knowing that the book did what I was hoping it would for other people.

As for writing another book like this in this field, however . . . well, I'm flattered, but to get a view on the reality of the matter let me just quote Mark Twain quoting Huck Finn: " . . . and so there ain't nothing more to write about, and I am rotten glad of it, because if I'd a knowed what a trouble it was to make a book I wouldn't a tackled it and I ain't agoing to no more." :)

Well, here's to hoping you will eventually forget about all the trouble it was and agoing to tackle it again. Sincerely. :) Now if you can't forget on your own, our friend Al could do it for you. Mr. Al Zeimer that is. With him, every day could be a new day. He is sent to help us lighten our baggage so we can leave the old troubles behind when we go on to the next life where we get into the same troubles again. I believe there is a purpose to everything. :) By the way, do you think I need a psych eval?
 
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Vin

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Well, here's to hoping you will eventually forget about all the trouble it was and agoing to tackle it again. Sincerely. :) Now if you can't forget on your own, our friend Al could do it for you. Mr. Al Zeimer that is. With him, every day could be a new day. He is sent to help us lighten our baggage so we can leave the old troubles behind when we go on to the next life where we get into the same troubles again. I believe there is a purpose to everything. :) By the way, do you think I need a psych eval?
Follow the light Brother Si, follow the light. o_O
 

grouper52

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Well, here's to hoping you will eventually forget about all the trouble it was and agoing to tackle it again. Sincerely. :) Now if you can't forget on your own, our friend Al could do it for you. Mr. Al Zeimer that is. With him, every day could be a new day. He is sent to help us lighten our baggage so we can leave the old troubles behind when we go on to the next life where we get into the same troubles again. I believe there is a purpose to everything. :) By the way, do you think I need a psych eval?
Well, Si, two points: 1) As a board certified shrink, I could do the eval for you for the right price; 2) As someone who watched his mother die of Alzheimer's disease, I think your character needs to mature a great deal more before you try your hand at humor again.
 

Si Nguyen

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A naked man wraps himself in Saran wrap and walks into a doctor's office. The doctor takes one look at him and says "well, I can clearly see you're nuts".

I am sorry to have offended you folks. Truly am. There is no funny in tragedy and pain. What else can I say. I lost my dogma long ago - it got ran over by my karma.
 
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