vedr. udgave af bøger

Altså i vores pensumliste på universitet er der nogle steder angivet sidetal, så der nytter det ikke at have andre bøger. I forhold til referencer, citater og ny viden kunne jeg heller ikke forestille mig det er et hit at have 1. udgave i forhold til 10. udgave. :o) Men det afhænger nok af bogen og studiet.

Det kommer an på hvilket fag, du skal læse. I jura er det forholdsvis vigtig, da der sker ændringer af love hele tiden. Derimod er det formentlig mindre vigtigt i en række andre fag.

Det er ret problematisk. Især, men ikke kun med amerikanske lærebøger er det ofte sådan at der bliver foretaget mikroskopiske ændringer for at man kan kalde det en ny og forbedret udgave og derved tjene flere penge:

"The "broken market"

The textbooks market does not operate according to the same economic principles as a normal consumer market. First, the end consumers (students) do not select the product, and the people choosing the product (faculty) do not purchase the product. Therefore, price is removed from the purchasing decision, giving the producer (publishers) disproportionate market power to set prices high.

[...]

New editions & the used book market

[...]

Most leading textbook companies publish a new edition every 3 or 4 years, more frequently in math & science. Harvard economics chair James K. Stock has stated that new editions are often not about significant improvements to the content. "New editions are to a considerable extent simply another tool used by publishers and textbook authors to maintain their revenue stream, that is, to keep up prices," [3] A study conducted by The Student PIRGs found that a new edition costs 12% more than a new copy of previous edition, and 58% more than a used copy of the previous edition. Textbook publishers maintain these new editions are driven by faculty demand. The Student PIRGs' study found that 76% of faculty said new editions were justified “half of the time or less” and 40% said they were justified “rarely” or “never.”[4] The PIRG study has been criticized by publishers, who argue that the report contains factual inaccuracies regarding the annual average cost of textbooks per student.[5]"

( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Text_books#market )