Review: Talespin by Gerry McCusker

Duncan Riley> One good thing about editing a reasonably well visited blog is that every now and then I get a nice freebie in the mail (although I’m still waiting for a mini mac :-) ). Once such freebie arrived recently for the purposes of a review, a new book from UK author Gerry McCusker on Public Relations, Talespin: public relations disasters – inside stories & lessons learnt” (affiliate link).

Whilst its always tempting to be super nice about free things received in the mail, I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t give an honest opinion on it. So here it is.

A good book, with some great lessons from around the world that can be beneficial to bloggers who may not come from a marketing or PR background, but a relatively light read if your into PR already.

Personally, having studied marketing and worked for many years on and off in marketing and PR related jobs, I’d heard or read a lot of the examples before, but I was also surprised by a number of new stories as well. The format is fairly simple: McCusker paints a picture of what occurred and then provides a “Lesson Learnt” at the end of each story. Again, a fairly light read that is easy to put down and come back to later, as most stories are fairly short, but in terms of a tool to assist others in understanding the consequences of their actions, its provides a great resource to the less PR and marketing inclined. Interested in PR and looking for an enjoyable read, I’m happy to recommend. If your name is Steve Rubel or something similar, its not worth your time and money.