Everyday Systems

It looks like you can now "search inside the book" for the No S Diet on amazon.com.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0399534 ... eader-link

Even if you already have the book, this can be a useful way to pinpoint a particular question or issue (say, "milk" or "salad").

If you don't own the book, well, either this will demonstrate how useful it would be to have your own copy -- or how pointless since you can find everything you want in it online for free. I hope you'll go with the former!

Reinhard

Actually, Reinhard, there's a limit to how many pages you can preview at a setting.

(I was just checking it out and got sucked in. Guess what I'm buying on my next trip to Borders).

So, buying the book is still the best option.

Don't worry, Reinhard, I have done the search inside the book on Amazon
& if you keep pressing "suprise me" they come on and basically say "stop taking us for advantage" as my kids would say. They never really show enough to ruin the book! - Glenda

I'm not worried. I think it's a very cool service, actually, and that it'll help sell more books (or amazon wouldn't provide it, for one thing). It's a little like being able to go into a bookstore and browse.

I just sent a copy to my struggling cousin, she is always angry at herself because of her extra 30 pounds and not being able to stay on a diet. I sent it overnight and emailed her the website. After nine days I am so happy to have found this plan and I loved reading the book.
Thanks again Reinhard.

I love Amazon's search feature. I have bought more books with it than without it. So this is probably going to boost book sales.

Reinhard -- I received the book a few days ago and have enjoyed reading it. I am really glad that I bought it! I do have two questions, and I hope that they are not too pedantic. First of all, why do you prefer the word 'binging' without the 'e'? At first -- when I realized that I was a binge eater -- the spelling with the 'e' seemed wierd, but now it seems strange without it. Also, on page 40, you state that the French use the word "le snacking" because they didn't have anything in their language . . . which is not quite true. "Grignoter" according to my Le Petit Robert dictionnary, means "to nibble in between meals," and is traced back to 1537. 'Gouter', which dates back to 1538 (hey, were those people at the end of the Middle Ages/beginning of the Renaissance hungry, or what?) is both a noun and a verb, and means a snack or to snack. A gouter is a beloved word for young schoolchildren because it is the name for the afterschool snack. Other words that mean 'snack' include 'casse-croute' ("break bread") and 'collation' and were both coined at the end of the 19th Century. Congratulations on the book, I thank you from the bottom of my heart, and I will stand on line along with all the others to give you a big hug!

flipturn,

Thanks for the questions! Not too pedantic at all! I was an English-major/librarian, as you may remember.

I didn't really think about the "e" in bing[e]ing... I think I (or my spell checker) just thought that the preferred spelling was without the e.

They both seem to be legitimate, with google giving a large number of results for both. No-e seems to be a bit more popular (500 thousand hits vs. 300 hits).

As regards "le snacking," I defer to your obviously superior knowledge of the French language, but I think what I wrote was more of a (perhaps ignorant) exaggeration rather than a simple falsehood. "Le snacking" seems to be how the French press refers to this behavior, emphasizing its novelty and foreignness -- if not in kind, then in scale. And gouter and grignoter both have primary meanings (taste, nibble) that are not "to snack." So as far as I understand (please correct me if I'm wrong), the French don't have a native word whose full time job, so to speak, is "le snacking."

Reinhard

Hi, Reinhard -- Thank you so much for responding to my questions. I have already become accustomed to seeing 'binging' without the e, and I love the fact that you deferred to Google in your response. I also appreciate what you said about "le snacking" and think that you raise a valid point. There really is no French word that conveys the horrific American habit of snacking for hours on end. They don't even like cocktail parties, let alone the idea of a national binge like the Superbowl. I really appreciate the time that you took to respond to me, and I expect to be No S-ing and Shovelgloving for many years to come.

They don't even like cocktail parties

HAH! then I am not the only one!

Blueskighs

If you don't own the book, well, either this will demonstrate how useful it would be to have your own copy -- or how pointless since you can find everything you want in it online for free. I hope you'll go with the former!

Reinhard

Well since I just discovered the diet today and I happened to have a $25 Borders Gift Card handy I ordered it via Borders relationship with Amazon. Sorry if I ordered it the wrong way to give you the full credit but I'll make sure to spread the word to make up for it.

Search inside usually only allows you to read the first few pages of a book to give you a taste of the contents, as well as the index and contents pages. I've bought more books because of it, as you get to see whether the style of writing or the contents are what you are looking for, and if they suit you. Great invention!

I shall order the book when I get home to the UK, as getting things shipped to Malaysia is becoming more and more dangerous in terms of stuff going missing.

Nice!

I already own the book, and I was looking just yesterday for a specific portion I could not completely recall. I was able to find what page it was on using this service. Now, granted, it wouldn't let me read the entire page, but now I can find it in my own copy!

Very cool!

When is the book going to be available on the Kindle?

My publisher says June 5 (tomorrow!). I'll link to it from the home page as soon as there's something to link to.

Reinhard

No-S is now also available (limited preview) through google books:

http://books.google.com/books?id=SXA_Yt ... frontcover

The coolest thing about this (beyond what amazon offers) is the "Find this book in a library" link -- shows all "worldcat" library systems that have copies of No-s and even (for most of them) how many copies and whether they are checked out. It's in 67 library systems so far and about half the copies are checked out -- not bad, I think. As a former (and future?) librarian, this is especially gratifying to me -- so please pester your local library to get a copy if they don't have one already!

Reinhard