leonardicus

Isn’t this more readily explained by newer, more fit variants outcompeting the old strains? What is the evidence that it is due to herd immunity and not competition? These are both population level phenomena, so herd immunity, to whatever extent it exists, would be preventive of other strains. I don’t know how you can resolve the confounding.

I don't think most meth cooks have access to an analytical chem lab. You'd need some kind of mass spec or HPLC to confidently ensure purity.

So that would imply you lost out on your potential sales?

Can I meet you at ASCB?

I understand this idea, but it seems like the deal with Amazon is a big disingenuous since he was not asked or told the book would be listed for free. Also consider that there is no guarantee how many books he will sell after this free period compared to all the free downloads now. Any promise of future profits on new fans will also depend on how fast and with what quality he puts out a new book. He has the potential to make more money in the short and long term, iff he writes more books of similar or better quality. Alternatively, he loses out significantly if this is a one hit wonder. Amazon doesn't care either way because they don't lose any money with the influx of transactions and their business model seems to play the long odds while the author takes most of the immediate risk.