A month ago someone emailed me to offer me an e-Cig starter kit in return for a plug on a blog post I’d written on the subject many moons ago. I actually didn’t accept that offer, because the e-Cig technology, whilst being very promising, still has some kinks to be worked out – the batteries can’t cope with the demands placed upon them, and they’re limited by size and modern battery technology which remains one of the biggest technological bottlenecks still to overcome (that and anti-gravity hoverboards). 

Despite this I was very surprised then when a week ago a publisher got in touch and asked if I’d be interested in having a book sent to me. I said, “sure” and was sent a copy of “When the Lights Went Out” by Andy Beckett, which so far is a very accessible and absorbing history of the 1970s, and surprisingly balanced, too. I’ll be putting up a review once I’ve finished it. 

Going to the blogs is smart marketing, I think. This particular book is aimed at exactly the sort of people reading political blogs, so I hope the experiment pays off. 

Interestingly, I’ve seen review copies of computer games before, but never books. They’re hard-back sized but bound like paperbacks, with functional covers rather than covers designed to attract the consumer’s money. Fascinating.