Any Feedback on the new Kevin McCurley Book - "The Ultimate Python: Morph Maker Guide

I saw some reviews on Amazon but haven't seen much feedback on this new book from Kevin McCurley. Does anyone on BP.net own this book? What do you think of it? I have Kevin's complete BP book and I like that book. Any chance to read about BP's is good for me, and its always nice to see pics of BP's too. I imagine this new book is great, but would like to read about what first impressions people have of the book.

Thanks.

The price is unreasonable - it's not a college textbook. I understsand it's 700 pages and a lot of color photos. They should have adjusted it however they needed to for the price point to be closer to 60-70 bucks tops.

No personal experience with the book yet since I wouldn't be caught dead paying that much for a book containing information and pictures that are all available for free online.

Not a knock and it's cool that it exists, there are just a few misses for me.

I just had mine arrive the other day and haven't had any time to do much more than thumb through it. It's a BEAST of a book and STUFFED FULL of ball python eye candy. If you can name a morph combo that's ever been made, it's probably in there. I can't comment on the quality of information or writing style yet, but the pictures are high quality.

The price is as low as they could make it, seriously. Anything less than what it is wouldn't be able to deliver all the morphs, and that's what the book is about. Given its size and the sheer volume of glossy color print, I'm really surprised it doesn't cost more.

That makes sense, I know the book took years to make. I'll look forward to hearing what you think of the book when you are done reading it.

I was lucky enough to win a free copy through Reptiles Magazine. I got it last week. It has tons of information and like was said earlier, pictures of hundreds of different morphs and what their genetic makeup is. It has a big section devoted to thoroughly understanding the history behind some of the morphs we have today, but it also gives a very detailed explanation of ball python genetics and what you need to know to hopefully become a successful breeder if you choose to.

While the price is on the high end, I am sure some if not most of us have spent that much, or close to it, on a meal with our significant other for a birthday or anniversary, or maybe a pair of Nike's that will be wore out in 6 or 8 months, or that college textbook that was only used a semester. At least this book will be around on my bookshelf for quite some time and referenced often. And, before anyone comments, Yes I was on the waiting list to buy a copy and would have for sure.

I haven't seen it, but considering the size of the book (700+ pages) and the quality of the photos and such, it doesn't seem outrageous. Consider what the publishing costs were for the first printing and that fact that the volume of sales is pretty finite. It's not like this is a Clancy novel destined to be a top seller. They probably had to charge that much just to insure they recouped their costs with a modest profit margin.

printing can be expensive when you go over the top with high quality pictures. there are ways to drive down the cost, by ensuring a very large amount of sales, or by going for the magazine printing process, basically printing it like a very thick issue of national geographic.

but when you look at an actual book, with hundreds of high quality pictures showing architecture, art from picasso, or nature photography or aerial and sattelite images of earth or astronomy pictures or whatever, as soon as it doesnt move in large numbers, such high prices are not unusual at all. you can find similar prices on amazon and in book stores when you look for books that are equally difficult to print.

what i dont like is that i have a suspicion that now that the book is out, NERD wont share anything for free anymore, like they used to. all their youtube videos about ball pythons have disappeared, the website lost content. this may have different reasons, but i am suspicious that they are cutting down on ways to get some of the information for free that is now in the book. i dont like that at all. they used to have really nice youtube videos, and helpful articles about genetics on their website. i dont want to be forced to buy the book just because they remove that stuff, so that the only way to gain any knowledge from NERD is now the book. if this really is a pattern now, i have to say its quite a disgusting marketing strategy. it implies that the community doesnt count, and people that dont buy the book can go screw themselves. if they would leave the website as it was and keep the youtube videos online, wouldnt that be good advertising for the book, like a free sample?

so im fine with the high price of the book. but if whats going on with their website and youtube channel really is part of a marketing strategy (i may be wrong, but i get the impression) then thats not OK with me. i dont know their other social media, if they also have a blog or facebook page and you are familiar with it, now would be the time to check if they removed stuff from there as well. throwing their community engagement and education efforts under the bus to sell a few more copies just isnt nice if it is true.

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Originally Posted by Pythonfriend

printing can be expensive when you go over the top with high quality pictures. there are ways to drive down the cost, by ensuring a very large amount of sales, or by going for the magazine printing process, basically printing it like a very thick issue of national geographic.

but when you look at an actual book, with hundreds of high quality pictures showing architecture, art from picasso, or nature photography or aerial and sattelite images of earth or astronomy pictures or whatever, as soon as it doesnt move in large numbers, such high prices are not unusual at all. you can find similar prices on amazon and in book stores when you look for books that are equally difficult to print.

what i dont like is that i have a suspicion that now that the book is out, NERD wont share anything for free anymore, like they used to. all their youtube videos about ball pythons have disappeared, the website lost content. this may have different reasons, but i am suspicious that they are cutting down on ways to get some of the information for free that is now in the book. i dont like that at all. they used to have really nice youtube videos, and helpful articles about genetics on their website. i dont want to be forced to buy the book just because they remove that stuff, so that the only way to gain any knowledge from NERD is now the book. if this really is a pattern now, i have to say its quite a disgusting marketing strategy. it implies that the community doesnt count, and people that dont buy the book can go screw themselves. if they would leave the website as it was and keep the youtube videos online, wouldnt that be good advertising for the book, like a free sample?

so im fine with the high price of the book. but if whats going on with their website and youtube channel really is part of a marketing strategy (i may be wrong, but i get the impression) then thats not OK with me. i dont know their other social media, if they also have a blog or facebook page and you are familiar with it, now would be the time to check if they removed stuff from there as well. throwing their community engagement and education efforts under the bus to sell a few more copies just isnt nice if it is true.

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You arent "forced" to buy anything. If you want the information within the book then you can either pay the asking price or not. No one owes you free information or rather more correctly stated, free labor and time. Seriously, you folks argueing its too costly are no different then people who complain about not being able to afford a certain mutation of ball python. Either buy it or dont. Statements about "too costly for ME" are fine,statements about "too costly objectively" are ridiculous.

i didnt say its too expensive, quite the opposite. i argued that the price is reasonable and justified.

but i hate to believe that all community engagement NERD did so far was all just so that they get the right reputation set up in order to be able to sell the book. i hate to believe that he is selling out everything just to sell the book. i hate to think that when he did make the great videos and articles and shared stuff for free, that all he had in mind was money after all.

if the book is written by someone who does not care at all about the community, then i dont see myself buying it. and thats what it seems like.

yes im not forced to buy anything. thats the point. when the marketing strategy that is being used is too dirty in my opinion, then i dont buy. of course it is his right to cripple his website and take down the youtube videos, but i dont like it.

You need to remember that this isn't Kevin's first book. And the sky didn't fall after the first one in 2005. I don't see why it would happen now.

The videos were produced by Raphael Martinez who had a difference of opinion with Kevin and they are no longer producing together. Totally unrelated to the book.

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Originally Posted by MrLang

The videos were produced by Raphael Martinez who had a difference of opinion with Kevin and they are no longer producing together. Totally unrelated to the book.

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if thats true, then it changes everything.

but, on www.newenglandreptile.com , i remember there were a few explanations on genetics and a few articles. they seem to be gone. what surprises me is that i also dont see any advertising for the book there.

maybe its just a coincidence after all. but it seems suspicious how the takedown of the videos and the takedown of parts of the website coincide with the publishing of the book.

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Originally Posted by Pythonfriend

but i hate to believe that all community engagement NERD did so far was all just so that they get the right reputation set up in order to be able to sell the book. i hate to believe that he is selling out everything just to sell the book. i hate to think that when he did make the great videos and articles and shared stuff for free, that all he had in mind was money after all.

if the book is written by someone who does not care at all about the community, then i dont see myself buying it. and thats what it seems like.
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Wowzers. If you hate so much to believe it, then WHY believe it? This is just an imaginary cynical scenario that has no basis in fact and you can CHOOSE to believe it or not.

If you want to judge Kevin, then get to know him first. Don't just make up awful stuff and then believe it 'cause it seems to make sense to you at that moment. To say that he's done ALL he's done over the last DECADES just to sell THIS book is one of the most ridiculous things I've read in a long time. This book is not his source of income....it was written because this is what he's passionate about. The high cost of the book and the limited niche market it's intended for in the first place guarantee that it's not going to be some huge money-maker. He did it BECAUSE he cares about the ball python community and wants to give BP enthusiasts something super cool to have and to learn from.

He's moody. He's not much of a people-person. Social skills are not his strong suit...but to say that he doesn't care, or that he would intentionally withhold a few website pages to "force" people to buy this book is flat-out wrong. :colbert:

Darn, those videos actually interested my non herp friends and family.

So what's up with Raph and kevin?
They seem to click pretty well

i will be glad to hear if the temporal coincidence between the takedown of the videos and the website changes has nothing to do with the book release.

i added qualifiers in the form of "if this is really true, then i conclude that" with all my statements.

maybe the video takedowns are for some other reason, maybe the changes to the website are for some other reason as well. If Kevin McCurley puts out a new video showing his morphs and/or puts up another nice article about BP breeding, that will make it clear, as i say, maybe im wrong. the fact is, the book is now out, and all that he published for the community earlier and for free is gone right now. if these facts change, my conclusion is undermined, and i seriously and honestly hope that this happens. i hope to be wrong on this one. so disprove me, it should be easy. i told you all how to disprove what i said and how to check it. if he publishes new videos and articles, or if the old videos and articles come back up, i stand corrected. and I HOPE SO. i liked these videos and articles a lot. so, please, blow what i said out of the water. change my mind, get rid of my doubt, so that i can enjoy videos by NERD, can reference these nice articles, and can buy the book in good conscience.

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Originally Posted by Pythonfriend

i will be glad to hear if the temporal coincidence between the takedown of the videos and the website changes has nothing to do with the book release.

i added qualifiers in the form of "if this is really true, then i conclude that" with all my statements.

maybe the video takedowns are for some other reason, maybe the changes to the website are for some other reason as well. If Kevin McCurley puts out a new video showing his morphs and/or puts up another nice article about BP breeding, that will make it clear, as i say, maybe im wrong. the fact is, the book is now out, and all that he published for the community earlier and for free is gone right now. if these facts change, my conclusion is undermined, and i seriously and honestly hope that this happens. i hope to be wrong on this one. so disprove me, it should be easy. i told you all how to disprove what i said and how to check it. if he publishes new videos and articles, or if the old videos and articles come back up, i stand corrected. and I HOPE SO. i liked these videos and articles a lot. so, please, blow what i said out of the water. change my mind, get rid of my doubt, so that i can enjoy videos by NERD, can reference these nice articles, and can buy the book in good conscience.

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So you want someone to prove you wrong just so you can buy their book?? That's too much work especially for a hundred bucks. I'm sure the author of the book will sleep just fine tonight without your money.

I deal with the same attitudes in the racing industry. Everyone has an opinion about how you should run and do things... Except these people don't do anything for the community besides complain about others who are actually trying to make a difference. If you have such strong opinions, then put in the time to do the research and put out your own free information and videos.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk

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Originally Posted by Mr. Misha

So you want someone to prove you wrong just so you can buy their book?? That's too much work especially for a hundred bucks. I'm sure the author of the book will sleep just fine tonight without your money.

I deal with the same attitudes in the racing industry. Everyone has an opinion about how you should run and do things... Except these people don't do anything for the community besides complain about others who are actually trying to make a difference. If you have such strong opinions, then put in the time to do the research and put out your own free information and videos.

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im not big at anything but i share freely and openly whatever i know all the time. and im honest. im just good at recognizing patterns when they stare me in the face. i am fallible, but i am open to admit mistakes that i make. so what do you want?

To answer the OP question.

I bought the book and it arrived 2 DAYS later. Awesome service and I am across the country from NERD.
HUGE Freaking book. OMG. I didn't like the fact it has a dust jacket and then a very plain inside. And I know this is just my opinion...but I hate dust jackets, sigh. I absolutely love reading some of the behind the scene stories. LOL, Kevin got caught by security sneaking in a snake...Or the selling of the first fires cause he didn't know what they were. Love this stuff. Love the very great quality of photos. He broke down all the science behind what we are doing. Explains what CO-dom, Dom, Recessive, etc genes are. We have the Designer Morphs book by John Berry. So I have to compare the two....I think John Berry's is easier to find morphs in. And it has an appendix to look up certain genes if you need too. The new book does not. I was very interested to see what NERD had to say about a new morph (Arroyo-Rio) I have and I cant find anything. So I am a little disappointed....


Overall I would say I haven't had enough time to look it over completely but I would buy again just for the pictures and back stories to some of the bigger morphs!

Those NERD/Raphy videos were awesome. I would go back to them from time to time and it would always re-energize my passion for ball pythons. I am sad to see them down. I'm dating myself here, but when I got into herps, reptile books and magazines were the only way I could learn about husbandry. The fancy internets hadn't taken off yet. I am glad there are still people out there like Kevin that are making subject specific books. Back in the day you'd get a "reptile book" that would cover everything from tortoises to snakes and good luck learning any real husbandry or breeding techniques from those books. But they were the best we had at the time and I loved them. I'd read them over and over.

Books are special. At whatever price I'm glad Kevin put forth the effort to make this book, I hope to own it one day. And even if not, sometimes for really hard to find books you can at times get them for a week or two through inter-library loan. It will take a while for a library to get Kevin's book, but eventually one will.

It reminds me too of Julian Sprung and Charles Delbeek's books on Reefing. When they came out they were pretty expensive too, but at the time they were great.

Now we can find TONS of info on the internet, and I love that too, but I still cherish my books. I've read Kevin's Complete BP book many times, and each time I enjoy it and something strikes me that didn't the time before. And the pictures are great.

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Originally Posted by Wapadi

To answer the OP question.

I bought the book and it arrived 2 DAYS later. Awesome service and I am across the country from NERD.
HUGE Freaking book. OMG. I didn't like the fact it has a dust jacket and then a very plain inside. And I know this is just my opinion...but I hate dust jackets, sigh. I absolutely love reading some of the behind the scene stories. LOL, Kevin got caught by security sneaking in a snake...Or the selling of the first fires cause he didn't know what they were. Love this stuff. Love the very great quality of photos. He broke down all the science behind what we are doing. Explains what CO-dom, Dom, Recessive, etc genes are. We have the Designer Morphs book by John Berry. So I have to compare the two....I think John Berry's is easier to find morphs in. And it has an appendix to look up certain genes if you need too. The new book does not. I was very interested to see what NERD had to say about a new morph (Arroyo-Rio) I have and I cant find anything. So I am a little disappointed....


Overall I would say I haven't had enough time to look it over completely but I would buy again just for the pictures and back stories to some of the bigger morphs!

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Thanks for that input, just what I was looking for.

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Originally Posted by Pythonfriend

printing can be expensive when you go over the top with high quality pictures. there are ways to drive down the cost, by ensuring a very large amount of sales, or by going for the magazine printing process, basically printing it like a very thick issue of national geographic.

but when you look at an actual book, with hundreds of high quality pictures showing architecture, art from picasso, or nature photography or aerial and sattelite images of earth or astronomy pictures or whatever, as soon as it doesnt move in large numbers, such high prices are not unusual at all. you can find similar prices on amazon and in book stores when you look for books that are equally difficult to print.

what i dont like is that i have a suspicion that now that the book is out, NERD wont share anything for free anymore, like they used to. all their youtube videos about ball pythons have disappeared, the website lost content. this may have different reasons, but i am suspicious that they are cutting down on ways to get some of the information for free that is now in the book. i dont like that at all. they used to have really nice youtube videos, and helpful articles about genetics on their website. i dont want to be forced to buy the book just because they remove that stuff, so that the only way to gain any knowledge from NERD is now the book. if this really is a pattern now, i have to say its quite a disgusting marketing strategy. it implies that the community doesnt count, and people that dont buy the book can go screw themselves. if they would leave the website as it was and keep the youtube videos online, wouldnt that be good advertising for the book, like a free sample?

so im fine with the high price of the book. but if whats going on with their website and youtube channel really is part of a marketing strategy (i may be wrong, but i get the impression) then thats not OK with me. i dont know their other social media, if they also have a blog or facebook page and you are familiar with it, now would be the time to check if they removed stuff from there as well. throwing their community engagement and education efforts under the bus to sell a few more copies just isnt nice if it is true.

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Wow,

That is hardly following the scientific method. In this case I say the burden of proof lies upon you not anyone else as "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence " :colbert:

Have a look at this page. Given the amount of information and time shared by N.E.R.D over the years it seems unlikely they would change what could be seen as a basic stance.

Does anyone have a copy of the book for sale??

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Originally Posted by MorphBroker

Does anyone have a copy of the book for sale??

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As old as it is, the morphs and combos in it are going to be a lot different than what is on the market right now. In 2014 there was a small fraction of the morphs available now. Morph Market has the information you need readily available. If you click "browse" you can see which are recessive vs incomplete dominant based on the color. The only ones I am aware of that are anything besides simple recessive or incomplete dominant are:

Sex-linked complicated situation where it hops back and forth from Z to W and back occasionally- Banana and Coral Glow
Still incomplete dominant but you can't see anything without "Super" form with another morph allelic with it- het Daddy

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Originally Posted by nikkubus

As old as it is, the morphs and combos in it are going to be a lot different than what is on the market right now. In 2014 there was a small fraction of the morphs available now. Morph Market has the information you need readily available. If you click "browse" you can see which are recessive vs incomplete dominant based on the color. The only ones I am aware of that are anything besides simple recessive or incomplete dominant are:

Sex-linked complicated situation where it hops back and forth from Z to W and back occasionally- Banana and Coral Glow
Still incomplete dominant but you can't see anything without "Super" form with another morph allelic with it- het Daddy

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I appreciate you taking the time to respond to me and your points are noted . Thanks again!