Has anyone read both books? I have the old one, but it seems that its alot of re-covered material. Anyone think its worth having both?
Also, anyone know of any good tutorials/books for texturing?
essential blender should be more up to date! 
Having a book will not give a huge advantage if its not read (so first ask yourself if you read the first book). I own all the Blender books, I have not read any of them from start to finish, but use them as reference material when i am trying to do something specific. they are a “follow along” type tool to me.
If you find you are trying to do things that you haven’t done before, and don’t feel comfortable doing, a book might be handy.
Alltaken
2.3 is a reference guide. Don’t know something? Need to know a definition of one of the functions or buttons? That’s where to turn.
Essential Blender is a book of tutorials designed to teach good working habits with the Blender toolset, accompanied by very down-to-earth explanations of the most-used portions of Blender.
Also, the 2.3 guide was not around for compositing, most of the new character animation tools, mesh modifiers or sculpting.