Ever since I first saw Trent Parke's work on the Magnum website (years and years ago), I've wanted to own one of his books but couldn't afford the highly collectable Seventh Wave, so when I heard that Minutes to Midnight was being release I was extremely happy. As soon as the book was available for pre-order, I placed my order with Amazon and waited patiently for the release date. That date and many subsequent release dates have come and gone with no explanation as to why the book keeps getting delayed. I have written to the publisher and to Magnum photos to ask when the book might finally be released but no one has responded. As a huge fan of Trent Parke's work, I'll carry on waiting (years if I have to), but I am deeply disappointed that I've had to wait approximately 18 months already - maybe even 2 years (I've lost track it has been so long).
I'm sure that when this book finally gets released I'll be able to come back here and award it 5 out of 5, but, until then, this review will act as a warning to all potential buyers who are likely to have to wait a considerably long time before they will physically own a copy of what I hope will be one of the best photo books of the last 20 years by one of the most talented photographers in the world.
********************************ADDED FRIDAY 18TH OCTOBER 2013 - PLEASE READ BEFORE ORDERING!!!********************************
I placed my order for this book approximately 2 years ago with Amazon.com. Since that time, publication of the book has been postponed again and again. Each time the book got postponed, Amazon sent me an email asking if I was happy to wait, which I always agreed to do (I collect photography books so I am aware that delays like this happen all the time and for a variety of reasons).
Based on what I have seen elsewhere on the Internet recently, it appears that the book is currently being printed and should be released in the next few months, which is great news for all fans of Trent Parke. I must point out that, despite no longer being available for pre-order on this site, the book is available for pre-order on other Amazon sites around the world, including the UK which is where I live. However, I chose to purchase from Amazon.com because the book was available for pre-order on Amazon.com before Amazon.co.uk, and the price was significantly lower at the time I placed my order (approximately £25 on Amazon.com instead of the current pre-order price of £45 on Amazon.co.uk).
As you can imagine, after 2 years of waiting, I was looking forward to finally getting my hands on the book - I could almost smell it - when, out of the blue, Amazon sent me an automated email saying that they couldn't source the book and that my order had been cancelled. Of course, I immediately contacted customer services to explain to them that there had been a mistake because the book hadn't been released, so of course they couldn't source it yet (nothing had changed). I also sent them links to other Amazon sites to prove that it hadn't been released and was still available for pre-order. The customer service representative took my details and told me he'd pass them onto the department that deals with these things. The person who wrote back to me must not have got any of that information because the piece of garbage email that I received from him seemed to completely ignore everything I had said.
So I contacted them again and explained the situation, again - that I still wanted the book and that I didn't want my order to be cancelled because I want the book for the price that I agreed to pay Amazon 2 years ago (I can afford the £45, but I believe that Amazon should sell it to me for the price originally agreed - more out of principle than anything else). It seems that the incompetent that I spoke to the second time didn't bother passing that message to the appropriate department because no one wrote back to me. So it now appears that I'll have to buy the book for the full price. However, I won't be buying it from Amazon - I've decided instead to buy it directly from Magnum's online bookstore, or order it at my local bookshop. That way these jokers won't get a penny more from me.
I'm sorry for any typos or bad grammar (I've written this is haste).
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Top reviews from the United States
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Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 30, 2013
An incredible post-apocolyptical journey through Australia through the eyes of Trent Parke (don't miss out!)
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Top reviews from other countries
Alison Druce
What a great find.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on March 13, 2020
ioana
Minutes to Midnight merges traditional documentary techniques and imagination to ...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on November 3, 2015Horatiu Eduard Dominte
Superb book
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on September 2, 2018XAVIER TORRUELLA CALZADA
El libro es magnifico, 100% recomendable. (Pero..La descripcion del articulo no es cierta, cuidado)
Reviewed in Spain 🇪🇸 on February 7, 2020
