difference between latest and newest

[sipa2008]

English Grammar Error, Intermediate level

ESL/EFL Test #7 "Her latest book", question 3

I've read most of her books and they're all fascinating but I haven't read her newest book.

(a) read
(b) of
(c) haven't
(d) newest

English Grammar Error, Intermediate level

ESL/EFL Test #7 "Her latest book", answer 3

I've read most of her books and they're all fascinating but I haven't read her latest book.

Correct entry: latest
The error was: (d) newest

You have found the error but your entry is incorrect.
I've read most of her books and they're all fascinating but I haven't read her newest book.
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Please, can anybody explain to me the different between latest and newest.

thk, Silvina.

[Mister Micawber]

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There is not really any significant difference in meaning here, although 'latest' needn't mean 'newest' if we are speaking of used objects, I suppose. I think that this test question needs re-working, Silvina.
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_________________
Canadian-American native speaker
who teaches English for a living at Mister Micawber's
ESL cafe: Interview with Mister Micawber

[Yankee]

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I agree with you, MM. The sentence should be reworked.
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Examples of 'newest' from the BNC:

1) On his newest album, Double Good Everything (Capitol) he measures out the steps a soul man must take to remain on top of the game.

2) The newest building in the centre of Qara Tappah had been built in 1934.

Of those two sentences, I would say you can replace 'newest' with 'latest' in (1) but not really in (2). Perhaps that is because 'latest' tends to suggest 'most recent' only with a focus on the idea that the origin/creation is current. 'Newest' is more relative and therefore perhaps more flexible -- it might refer to the most recent one in a collection of things that are all relatively new, or it might refer to the most recent one in a collection of things that are all old.
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Amy
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ESL teacher, translator, and a native speaker of American English