Which Texas City Cares Most About Its History?

[musicman]

City limit lines are pretty arbitrary.

city limit lines aren't arbitrary. your scientific method is pretty arbitrary.

[H-Town Man]

city limit lines aren't arbitrary. your scientific method is pretty arbitrary.

They aren't arbitrary for things like taxes and water service, but they are arbitrary when it comes to the likelihood of buying a photo book of Houston history. Do you really think sales of this book drop off as you cross outside city limits and into, say, the Memorial area, or the 1960 area?

I said in my initial post that this was not scientific. Ever since then you've been trying to badger me for things like not including technical info, not observing census populations, etc. Either you don't read very well, or you are trying to be this guy:

[musicman]

Either you don't read very well, or you are trying to be this guy:

LOL. i was thinking you were more like this.

Edited January 8, 2008 by musicman

[H-Town Man]

LOL. i was thinking you were more like this.

Well, one of us has roughly 800 posts, mostly geared towards serious discussion about architecture and history.

The other one has 6,600 posts mostly geared towards pestering people with real interest in issues involving the history and culture of their city.

I'd much rather be the first, even if in your eyes that makes me a baby.

Edited January 8, 2008 by H-Town Man

[TheNiche]

Whereas the average person who likes Austin enough to actually live there wouldn't be as likely to buy this book?

Sorry, I just don't think that going to college in a city makes you more likely to buy a history book about that city than actually living there.

I didn't say that residents of Austin wouldn't buy such a book or say that people that went to college in Austin would be more likely to buy the book than native Austinites. But I do think that they have a positive impact on sale volumes in ways that are unique to Austin.

[H-Town Man]

I didn't say that residents of Austin wouldn't buy such a book or say that people that went to college in Austin would be more likely to buy the book than native Austinites. But I do think that they have a positive impact on sale volumes in ways that are unique to Austin.

Okay... but if a UT alum isn't more likely to buy the book than an ordinary Austinite, then you have only added about 100-150 thousand alums to an existing metro pop. of a little over a million. Whereas Houston has over 5 million in its metro... we still need something else to explain why the Austin book sells so much better than the Houston book.

[Houston19514]

Okay... but if a UT alum isn't more likely to buy the book than an ordinary Austinite, then you have only added about 100-150 thousand alums to an existing metro pop. of a little over a million. Whereas Houston has over 5 million in its metro... we still need something else to explain why the Austin book sells so much better than the Houston book.

Maybe the Austin book was a more well-done version. IIRC, I picked up that Houston book a few years back, eager to buy it. But after thumbing threw it briefly, I put it back on the shelf because I thought it was too lame to bother with.

[Vertigo58]

Let's do a test:

I'm going to be the typical shopper at a bookstore in another state. Let's see if its along the same lines as the arguments above.

True scenario:

My old sales territory was the Northern California area ie; Monterey Bay all the way up to Santa Rosa. I visited very often. When I went to Stanford U campus I had to see the bookstore selection. I love architecture and history of Calfornia, so I bought a book on SFO earthquake & Fire of 1906 and another book on the history of Palo Alto.

I am not from these areas but I purchased the books for only those reasons, love of arch and history.

Wouldn't it be the same reasons in Texas? my 2 cents.

[H-Town Man]

Let's do a test:

I'm going to be the typical shopper at a bookstore in another state. Let's see if its along the same lines as the arguments above.

True scenario:

My old sales territory was the Northern California area ie; Monterey Bay all the way up to Santa Rosa. I visited very often. When I went to Stanford U campus I had to see the bookstore selection. I love architecture and history of Calfornia, so I bought a book on SFO earthquake & Fire of 1906 and another book on the history of Palo Alto.

I am not from these areas but I purchased the books for only those reasons, love of arch and history.

Wouldn't it be the same reasons in Texas? my 2 cents.

So which city do you think that would favor?

And who is the girl in your avatar?

[Vertigo58]

So which city do you think that would favor?

And who is the girl in your avatar?

I grabbed the book on SFO 1906 FIRST, since I knew it was rare.

Palo Alto is a not so well known city so it was my 2nd choice. Both retain historical architecture so I enjoy both books equally. So I was an out of state person simply buying based on subject.

The darling in avatar is Ms Spain.

[TJones]

Okay... but if a UT alum isn't more likely to buy the book than an ordinary Austinite, then you have only added about 100-150 thousand alums to an existing metro pop. of a little over a million. Whereas Houston has over 5 million in its metro... we still need something else to explain why the Austin book sells so much better than the Houston book.

H-town, the rankings on amazon clearly reflect a flaw in the science. The Houston book has been on the market for a much longer time than the others, hence leaving more opportunity for it to fall down the list whilest NEW books come out. I wonder where "History of New York" falls on that list. Perhaps the Houston book is out of print, thus not enabling any of us to purchase one to move it up the ranks ? Too many unknowns for this experiment to be concluded. If I had t pick one using your given info, I would say Dallas, because of the ranking as opposed too how long it's been on the market.

Edited January 9, 2008 by TJones

[dfwcre8tive]

Maybe the Austin book was a more well-done version. IIRC, I picked up that Houston book a few years back, eager to buy it. But after thumbing threw it briefly, I put it back on the shelf because I thought it was too lame to bother with.

That's the same with the Dallas book. It took me about 5 minutes to scan through the book of uninteresting poorly-shot photographs at the bookstore. I chose this one instead, which has a much wider selection of historical Dallas photographs: http://www.amazon.com/Historic-Photos-Dall...095&sr=8-19

[H-Town Man]

H-town, the rankings on amazon clearly reflect a flaw in the science. The Houston book has been on the market for a much longer time than the others, hence leaving more opportunity for it to fall down the list whilest NEW books come out. I wonder where "History of New York" falls on that list. Perhaps the Houston book is out of print, thus not enabling any of us to purchase one to move it up the ranks ? Too many unknowns for this experiment to be concluded. If I had t pick one using your given info, I would say Dallas, because of the ranking as opposed too how long it's been on the market.

I mentioned this on my original post. Although Austin and San Antonio are newer, Dallas's is actually older than Houston's - yet still far above it in rankings.

None of the books are out of print. The more successful ones - including New York, Chicago, and San Francisco - have gone into paperback.

Maybe the Austin book was a more well-done version. IIRC, I picked up that Houston book a few years back, eager to buy it. But after thumbing threw it briefly, I put it back on the shelf because I thought it was too lame to bother with.

But how would shoppers on Amazon.com know that?

[rapturematt]

In my personal opinion, I would say this my order:

1. San Antonio

2. Austin

3. Houston

4. Dallas

I really think a lot of that has changed since the sesquincentennial celebration in 1986. I remember that year we parked at Gilley's and took a bus to the San Jacinto Monument watch Willie Nelson on July 4th. We traveled to all of the cities that year and of course San Antonio and the Alamo beat all of the out in the historical battle.