One thing I dislike is paying for hardback books when I know that if I just wait 6 months it'll be in paperback and much cheaper. My options are either suck it up and spend the $25 or wait, right? Well, when you're on the road internationally you realize that they release a significant number of books in paperback overseas much sooner than they do in the states. For example, Nassim Taleb's "The Black Swan." In the US, still in hardback at ~$25, overseas it's available in paperback for much less.
Of course, the best part of this is that I had a few Swedish Kronors left in my pocket in the airport, and I happened to see it on the shelf. PLUS - while I'm not sure about the total economics of the book publishing industry, I have a good sense that Mr. Taleb isn't getting 100% of the profits that he is off of the US version, and I think that somehow the insignificant profit he's losing on my sale will convince him to release his future books in the US in paperback much sooner. I do have to give him credit in that when he finally did release "Fooled by Randomness" in paperback in the US, there was an additional chapter or two.
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