Hi guys, first up, apologies for the delay. You'd think that an author would have some control or even more information than the general public. Unfortunately, I don't have much to offer. Here's what I can tell you. I have not received my complimentary copies. I've not heard a word about them or my bulk order of 175 books. Yesterday, a customer of ip4 ap.com wrote me with the surprising and upsetting news that although he somehow managed to procure a book from Amazon USA because he had pre-ordered it long ago, the book was misassembled with blocks of pages in the wrong place. Ugh!! Needless to say, I've alerted my editors in New York City about this, and asking what the heck is going on. Geoff, the comment about the spine is not inaccurate. I was told that the big part of the delay was that Springer has switched to a new printer and that we're promised that the quality of the ink and the paper will be better than the first edition, which of course is good news. The bad news was that certain files were not properly updated for the new printer, the spine of the book being among these. Supposedly, it's all sorted out now and hopefully we'll all see second edition books soon. Happy holidays to all, and again, although I have no part in this delay, I apologize for the inconvenience! Thanks for your interest and your continued support.