Since you asked...
I attended a party in LA last Saturday night, after the NAMM Show, where Ms. Knize was present, read from the book, and signed copies. I bought one, read it on the plane and finished it after I got home. She has a delightful, and very descriptive writing style, but I found her obsession to be excessive. As a technician, I found the story annoying (to put it mildly). She is incapable of communicating how she wants her piano to sound and is unwilling to accept enviromental differences between the NYC showroom and her Montana home. I wasn't disappointed to learn that her editor had her cut 150 pages before it was printed.
The book is probably worth borrowing, and Michael's review is accurate.
An LA Times reporter and photographer also attended the party and here is a link to the article.
http://www.latimes.com/features/books/la-ca-knize27jan27,0,1759200.story
On a positive note, if you click on the Photo Gallery "Perri Knize", I am in photo #5. I told my mom, "I got my picture in the LA Times, and I'm not even wearing handcuffs". She is very proud.
Regards,
Dave Davis, RPT
----- Original Message ----
From: Michael Spreeman <m_spreeman at hotmail.com>
To: Pianotech List <pianotech at ptg.org>
Sent: Saturday, January 26, 2008 2:35:35 PM
Subject: RE: New book -Grand Obsession-
>From what I've seen, the book is a summary of her experience with shopping for a piano, purchasing it, and subsequent adventures with various technicians attempting to reproduce the sound she heard in the showroom.
It has its positive virtues through exposing the various used car sales techniques and lies employed by some salespeople which will offer constructive advise to people who are in the market search for a piano. It also exempifies the potential obsessive compulsive charactoristics that that can often direct and accompany such an artistic quest and the extreme confusion that can one can incur by hearing so many facts vs lies that a typical customer can eventually be unable to discern the two.
A conclusion to which she has yet to reach (at least at the time she wrote the book) through her many ordeals to recapture the sound she experienced when the piano stole her heart in the showroom is the importance of how a piano will sound vastly different in alternative environments. No piano will sound or perform the same in a home with low ceilings, carpet, different RH, temperature variations, and/or room shape and wall coverings than it does, say, in a large showroom with hardwood floors, expansive ceilings, etc. Even the most experienced of the magic wizard techs cannot duplicate the environment in which she initially felt and heard the piano, a principle that would be wise to keep in mind when attempting to satisfy certain clients. But her antics reflecting her experiences with the techs are still amusing and entertaining.
Michael Spreeman
http://www.spreemanpianoinnovations.com
From: cgpiano at suddenlink.net
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Subject: New book -Grand Obsession-
Date: Sat, 26 Jan 2008 13:09:04 -0800
Has anyone read this new book "Grand Obsession" by Perri Knize? Before I spring for a copy, I want to know my colleagues' opinion.
One of her obsessions is trying to find a piano technician. Here is a New York Times review:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/20/books/review/Brockes-t.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Carman Gentile RPT
Redwood Chapter
Helping your favorite cause is as easy as instant messaging. You IM, we give. Learn more.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/20080126/f9969a7a/attachment.html
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC