The Strangest Amazon Product Ever: A $1000 Book About Folding Chairs

In the market for a portable chair, I stumbled across book called "The 2007-2012 World Outlook for Public Building Portable Folding Chairs" that costs a thousand dollars. Here is the description:

This study covers the world outlook for public building portable folding chairs across more than 200 countries. For each year reported, estimates are given for the latent demand, or potential industry earnings (P.I.E.), for the country in question (in millions of U.S. dollars), the percent share the country is of the region and of the globe. These comparative benchmarks allow the reader to quickly gauge a country vis-à-vis others. Using econometric models which project fundamental economic dynamics within each country and across countries, latent demand estimates are created. This report does not discuss the specific players in the market serving the latent demand, nor specific details at the product level. The study also does not consider short-term cyclicalities that might affect realized sales. The study, therefore, is strategic in nature, taking an aggregate and long-run view, irrespective of the players or products involved.

I don't have much to say about this, as it broke my mind. Perhaps this is some sort of money-laundering scheme?

Comments

[colorado orthodontist]

Make sure that you change your toothbrush on a regular basis so that the bristles are firm enough to remove stains.

[bastiaan]

This is a scam. Books with very specific titles get produced automatically using free web resources (mainly wikipedia) and printed on demand if anyone orders them on Amazon.

[James rytting]

I bought a set of four. Looked sturdy, handsome Naugahyde cover. But I couldn't get the s.o.b. to lie flat at first, and after i did, it wouldn't close back up.thefancyclasp broke too...

[Mutter]

That's an automated book, see here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_M._Parker

[Martin]

It is not laundering - the language is much to elaborate. If it would be launderung, it would probably be written like this:

"This studie cover the world outlok for public built por table foldchairs cross more than 200 catnries...." - and so on.

The shop would reside in Nigeria und the money generated would only be used to free some honorable gentleman from a terrible fate.

I do not know either why such a book exists and why I apparantly seems to attract some money.

But there are other rare books, which would extract very high prices.

1. The English book of High Cuisine
2. The American book of culture
3. The German book of humor

Martin