Some of you may have noticed that I’ve been reviewing some technical books lately, and two or three of you have written to ask directly if I’m getting paid to do this. The short answer is no: I’m not getting paid for the reviews, exactly - but it’s true that I do get review copies of the books, sent usually by the publishers themselves. This has some obvious benefits, especially on my end - not only do I get books, but I also don’t have to feel like I’ve made an investment in the books before I even begin to read (and review) them. I don’t have to feel like I’ve wasted my money if I end up with a lousy book, which in turn frees me up to write a more objective review. You might think I’ve also got incentive to write perhaps a more positive review than I otherwise would - after all, it seems like publishers wouldn’t be willing to keep sending me books if all I do is trash them. That turns out not to be the case, of course. Publishers like to see their books reviewed because it generates attention for the book, and if it’s a good one then the positive reviews will outweigh the negative ones, anyway.

The one downside, though, is that I feel like I’ve reached a certain saturation point as far as Mac books are concerned. I was working on a forthcoming review this evening and while reading one of the chapters I actually found myself rolling my eyes at having to slog through yet another explanation of permissions under OS X - but that’s certainly not a topic that should be ignored in any decent book on the operating system. Just because I now know all of this stuff doesn’t mean that everyone does - especially not if they’re in the market for a book. Maybe it just means I should take a break from Mac books and start reviewing sci fi for a while.