Several people have asked me how to obtain the biography. It is still very difficult to buy! John Fraser mentioned this in his review (posted here) and it is still true.

There are three ways to get the book, differing in convenience and speed:

1. The University of Toronto Bookstore (College & St. George) stocks the book; that makes it easy.
2. You can order from the publisher, NRC Press, using a credit card. Phone 1-800-668-1222; then press 1 for English and then press 2 for NRC Press (and CISTI, the NRC library); then you speak to a person and ask for NRC Press Monographs; when you are switched there, you can order the book.
3. What should be the most convenient is horribly messy. You would think that Indigo and Chapters would stock the book. It's a long story which I won't describe here, but they still don't stock the book although they claim to have three copies on order (for each store or just three for Canada, I don't know). I was told at the Indigo at Manufacturers Life that the book could be ordered; however, at the Chapters on Bloor Street, they have the book listed, but you can't order it or put a hold on it. Final point: If you try one of these bookstores, they may say the book isn't listed. No it isn't on their on-line database (which you and I can also access on the web), but it is listed on their in-house database called "Wordstock", so insist that they use that database. (That's the database which shows three copies on order.)

Please post an "answer" to this message if you are able to buy the book or if your experience differs from what I describe. You can imagine how disconcerting it is to the author that the book is so difficult to obtain.

Finally, I should give the bibliographic information:

• title: Gerhard Herzberg: An illustrious life in science
• author: Boris Stoicheff
• publisher: NRC Press
• ISBN: 0-660-18757-4

Your comments on the biography would also be very welcome!

Paul

-- Anonymous, December 10, 2002

Answers

I learned today from Boris Stoicheff that, at long last, there are three copies on the biography shelves in Indigo at Manulife (Bloor and Bay)!

I just checked Indigo on-line and the book is listed there (with 3 to 5 weeks delivery time). It's still far easier to order it direct from NRC Press, unless you pick up a copy at Indigo, U of T bookstore, or the York bookstore (which also has it in stock now). I ordered copies from NRC Press a few weeks ago and received the books in less than a week.

-- Anonymous, December 21, 2002