ISBN puzzler

[morg_monster]

Just putting my copy of "Pop goes the weasel" by James Patterson on sale on Amazon, when I searched for it by the ISBN number on the back of the book (9-9999-8690-0) it comes up with "More Youth Retreats: Creating Sacred Spaces for Young People" by Aileen Doyle. According to amazon and the inside of the book, the ISBN for the James Patterson book should be 0747257906. Anyone got any idea why this might have happened - I guess its just a bizarre misprint?!

[paddy_36]

There are quite a few versions of that book on amazon, all with different ISBNs but nothing like the one you have on your copy. Did you buy the book abroad, or is it a book club edition? That would possibly explain it.

I have searched for ISBNs on amazon before and not always got the result I was expecting, so there could be some human error there. On their part, of course, not mine! I always double-check!!! ;o)

[nickmo]

The ISBN on the back isn't an ISBN. The first digit is the country originator, and 9 is not used. See: http://www.isbn-international.org/en/identifiers/allidentifiers.html and : http://www.isbn-international.org/en/agencies/unitking.html for the numbers used.

Could possibly a self published title that carries that number as the item number is the 3rd set of digits.

[paddy_36]

I (who smugly said I always double-check!) didn't even count the number of digits in your ISBN - there should only be 10 (although it is soon to be 13, but that is another story). Is it maybe just the number on the barcode used by shop scanners at checkouts? To confirm, the ISBN should also be inside the book itself - a few pages in on the left-hand side where the publisher info. and date of publication is shown. Sorry for the misleading info. in the first post.

[LeMarchand]

Is it a proof copy that has a "dummy" barcode, or an American edition? (Their book barcodes are not ISBN-based)

[mycatis]

"the ISBN number" Aaaaaaaarrrrrrrgggggggggghhhh

Ahem sorry about that. "ISBN" or "ISB number" please, sob sob I know, how sad am I? It's just one of my (thousands) of pet hates :-)

[morg_monster]

Thanks everyone. I'm sure it is meant to be an ISBN, since it says ISBN in front of the number. But the ISBN inside is different. (Both are 10 digits though).

Maybe it is an import or a book club version.

mycatis - I apologise profusely - I appreciate your pedantry - that kind of thing annoys me too. It even has a name - RAS Syndrome (stands for Redundant Acronym Syndrome Syndrome...!) look here!

[mycatis]

ha ha ha thank you for not taking it the wrong way morg_monster