Myrvhold has a bad rep in the tech industry due to Innovation Ventures.

But re: Modernist Cuisine, I've always puzzled over the COGS and ROI math. Despite the high price, he might actually be selling at cost. A lot of effort went into these books. The photography was surely expensive to create, and definitely to print. The books must be very low-volume sales, you have to account for the wholesale price to bookstores, and add some required margin for the publisher... I wonder if they are above water for Myrvhold at all. Not that he needs them to be, obviously.

I also wonder about Don Knuth, and some of the TASCHEN specimen titles. Publishing is a tough business!