Wow, that’s outrageous. Hopefully there aren’t people out there stupid enough to buy this and give Janes some justification for asking an arm and leg for these books.
I believe this is a similar thing to why certain university textbooks cost so much. They only print a limited number of copies and they are unable to enjoy the benefits of mass production and being able to drop their prices accordingly. I would guess the research involved in producing these books is pretty costly. As an aside, these books are so good that we used to use them for reference in the military. I remember many briefings where the intel weinies would photograph pages from Jane’s (either the book or the magazine) and convert them to slides and then use them to brief the base commander. I remember this happening during the first gulf war. Kind of like watching CNN to get reports from the front…
Jane’s books are almost exclusively used by Governments and militarys around the world. You will not find a more extensive collection of information on a military subject anywhere. This is the most likely reason.
[#ditto] High pricing could be to try and discourage the “average” person from picking up a detailed book on military hardware. Of course, that doesn’t help us modelers who are usually on a budget…one of those books would blow my budget for about 14 months!
i find their pocket sized books useful and fairly inexpensive. i would really like to know who buys these books. those prices are disgustingly outrageous.
I’ve got Jane’s “Tanks and combat vehicles recognition guide” in front of me. it’s not nearly as detailed or specific as those, but for $24.95 its got diagrams, pics, specifications, and histories for all modern tanks, apc’s, vehicles, and artillery.
I think I saw a copy in chapters a couple of months ago. It may not be the same thing though. I find the book was an interesting overview, but did not go into any kind of useful depth. I did find somevehicles in there that I have not seen anywhere else, but it was fairly useless when it came to any good references. The technical specs listing was good however.
I would think that if the military is one of the major subscribers to these books, they are mostly concerned with the technical specs and not the references. What does it look like, what are the specifications etc.
Janes is the foremost study in military equipment. I have one of their unabridged modern vehicle guide and it is so insightful and complete it is amazing. Its like the Sears Catalog of Armored vehicles.
Luckily my boss didnt miss it when it left his shelf.