See, I'm not that picky about books. For me, they have to be intact, have all the pages, and be legible. And that's about it. It's also in the nature of books to deteriorate with age.
Leafing through a used book, you can quickly see if it's in a condition worth buying. You can't do that with an optical disc. It's, as been mentioned, a lottery. I've bought second hand books from libraries that have been through hundreds of hands, and still get as much enjoyment out of them as if they are brand new, because the content isn't damaged.
I've also bought some histories and biographies as presents for my dad, books which were seriously out of print, up to 100 years old, and he appreciated them.
I do agree though that there will be a difference between text and art, and admittedly I've never bought a second hand manga or comic book.
Untrue, I do have some second hand Peanuts and Garfield anthologies which looked as new when I bought them.
