A question regarding the book - does it cover grinding better than the Petracco chapter in the Illy book?

Good question. Haven't had a chance to read through the book yet. A quick look at Chapter 13: stuff on laser diffractometry, industrial grinding technologies, etc. all from a more general coffee point of view espresso, drip, etc....

I wouldn't purchase this book to learn much about home grinding and how particle beds behave during extraction. The food science literature--which I think you're already familiar with-- is a better resource.

Socratic coffee did a study on burr sharpness:

http://socraticcoffee.com/2015/05/total ... ood-burrs/

Thank you - I may still buy the book - but it would save disappointment to know what to expect.

It does seem to be a really nice reference. If you have access to Science Direct within your institution, you may be able to download for free.

On Jan 27th I placed and order for a new hardcover version this book off of Amazon from one of the "Other Sellers" for $70 plus $4 shipping.

The "this is $45 less than the list price, maybe its a scam" orange flag had gone off in my head, but I thought, "hay, its Amazon, they have good scam protection" so I went ahead and ordered it anyway. After 10 days Amazon told me they were not going to charge my card since they never got a shipping notification from the seller. Out of curiosity I emailed the seller, they responded almost immediately saying they had the book and would mail it the next day. It then got listed as shipped on Amazon, but no tracking info, hrmm. Yesterday, as I was planning to report them to Amazon, a package shows up at my doorstep. It's the book, in pristine condition. Not a single corner bent, it looks like its never been opened.

I have no idea how they, and some of the other sellers I can see also offering the book, are able to undercut the price by $40+ dollars but at least in my case they pulled through. I'm looking forward to reading it this week and comparing it with my copy of Illy's "Espresso Coffee: The Science of Quality", they are actually very close in overall size.

The hardcover is listed on the publisher's website for $125 USD.