Review of the Periscope Book Light in a Bookcover

I have run reviews of a few book lights before, including the Light Wedge, the Spike Light, and the Flex Neck. This Periscope Book Light provides a different approach. A leather cover wraps around your book and then, true to its name, the light is housed in a telescoping periscope that comes out of the top.

You can adjust the periscope light to go as far over your book as you want and the head swivels back and forth. (Want to know what that head looks like? See a poster for the new Pixar movie WALL-E.) It's a bright, two-bulb LED that definitely does the trick in complete darkness. The light is powered by three AA bulbs---please promise you will use rechargeables after the included ones run their course of 40 hours. You can buy an A/C adapter for it, but who wants to mess with a cord when they're reading a book?

There are a couple advantages of this design. First, you never have to worry about misplacing your light because it's attached to the book you're reading. Hey, it even comes with a cloth bookmark. Also, it "protects your privacy" if you don't want everyone to see that you're reading a trashy romance novel. Or if you are, as I once was, reading The Satanic Verses while traveling through a country full of Muslims.

The downside of this approach is that, last time I checked, book sizes weren't very standard. The paperback size one will only hold mass market paperbacks, so if your tastes commonly run to Danielle Steele and the like, you'll be fine. Otherwise, you need the larger one that holds hardback books and trade paperbacks. Those books come in all kinds of sizes though, so sometimes the cover is going to barely fit and other times you will have lots of slack space.

Still, kudos for finding a new solution and trying something different. After all, it really does feel nice to have a leather cover in your hand while reading a $14 paperback. See the whole line here.

The Periscope Book Light in a Bookcover is available for $35 to $40 at Barnes & Noble stores or their website.

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