drh4683
12-29-2008, 11:29 PM
Has anyone purchased the "revised" 2008 edition of the transoceanic book? I bought the first edition when it came out around 1996. I thought it was the greatest book and really peaked my interest in Zenith. I've read the book cover to cover, and I thought I'd get the 2nd revised edition that came out this year.
I just received the book the other day, and I must say, Im a bit dissapointed. I saw very little, if any "revisions" in the new book. The original book was written around 1994-95 and the authors have written information with repect to those years. Some of the stuff should have been edited out like "Even though Zenith is out of the radio market, they are heavily into televisions. Zenith certianly has a prosporous future, including their picture tube plant" (FYI: Zenith was bought out completely in 1998 by LG, they closed all of the Zenith distribution centers in chicago, tore down the rauland tube plant in '03.) Obviously, Zenith is totally dead today, so there is no "future". That being said, there is definitly some obsolete information for the 2008 edition. All their pricing and "values" reflect the 1994 dollar. Not that that's a big deal but still, this is supposed to be the "revised 2nd edition" What I did notice different was at the very end of the book. It shows some other zenith transoceanics (pictures with captions) as well as a couple proto types, and other zenith all band portables that were not TO's. They even showed some pictures of radios from the competition and copiers, like the RCA strato-world and a hallicrafters model.
I must say, I was a bit dissapointed that they completely ignored the Inter-Oceanic in this 2nd edition. Thats was also ignored in the first. Why? You can't get any closer to the trans-oceanic than that, and its a full sized Zenith made all band portable radio from the mid 60's. Just the fact that the "oceanic" name is in there it should have been included! Both volumes of the book have made comparisons to the TO's to the other "look-a-like" TO's that were made by Zenith, like the royal 2000 trans symphony and the universal models from the 40's. Seeing those models tells you that the authors wanted you to see the "other" radios Zenith made that were similar to the TO. So you can't say the book was stricktly about the TO and nothing else. Thats why the Inter-Oceanic should have been in there.
With the exception of the few pages, which comes to around 17 or so at the very end, its the exact same book as the 1995 edition, it just has a different front cover. Im a bit dissapointed. Still great reading material though, but I expected a bunch of additional info to justify publication of a 2nd edition.
Any thoughts?
I just received the book the other day, and I must say, Im a bit dissapointed. I saw very little, if any "revisions" in the new book. The original book was written around 1994-95 and the authors have written information with repect to those years. Some of the stuff should have been edited out like "Even though Zenith is out of the radio market, they are heavily into televisions. Zenith certianly has a prosporous future, including their picture tube plant" (FYI: Zenith was bought out completely in 1998 by LG, they closed all of the Zenith distribution centers in chicago, tore down the rauland tube plant in '03.) Obviously, Zenith is totally dead today, so there is no "future". That being said, there is definitly some obsolete information for the 2008 edition. All their pricing and "values" reflect the 1994 dollar. Not that that's a big deal but still, this is supposed to be the "revised 2nd edition" What I did notice different was at the very end of the book. It shows some other zenith transoceanics (pictures with captions) as well as a couple proto types, and other zenith all band portables that were not TO's. They even showed some pictures of radios from the competition and copiers, like the RCA strato-world and a hallicrafters model.
I must say, I was a bit dissapointed that they completely ignored the Inter-Oceanic in this 2nd edition. Thats was also ignored in the first. Why? You can't get any closer to the trans-oceanic than that, and its a full sized Zenith made all band portable radio from the mid 60's. Just the fact that the "oceanic" name is in there it should have been included! Both volumes of the book have made comparisons to the TO's to the other "look-a-like" TO's that were made by Zenith, like the royal 2000 trans symphony and the universal models from the 40's. Seeing those models tells you that the authors wanted you to see the "other" radios Zenith made that were similar to the TO. So you can't say the book was stricktly about the TO and nothing else. Thats why the Inter-Oceanic should have been in there.
With the exception of the few pages, which comes to around 17 or so at the very end, its the exact same book as the 1995 edition, it just has a different front cover. Im a bit dissapointed. Still great reading material though, but I expected a bunch of additional info to justify publication of a 2nd edition.
Any thoughts?