23: Six Million Dollar Man #4; Pilot Error

Yeah, this book is cute in that "oh it's older than me so that makes it adorable in its attempts to communicate" sort of way, but that's not it. There's no way I would have the spent even the dollar it cost a couple of days ago if not for the happenstance awareness of the advertising material in the middle.

See? Yeah, books to push cigarettes? Like all out obvious where kids could find in their attempts to understand the jumpsuity universe of Steve Austin (thank you for retro hip shows like Venture Bros. for me even knowing that much). Then your little baby, 9 year old Tommy, is sucking on a tobacco tip like it has the cure for cancer at the end, which, yeah is really ironic for 39 year old Tommy.
The New York Times actually did an article about cigarette ads in books a few years ago. Apparently, this was actually quite common during the 60s and 70s. They tended to appear in the more masculine pulps and thrillers (Mack Bolan types), but actually could be found in such varied material as Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye (I would happily kill like three people--in order to rank my desire I will enumerate my kill/desire--for a copy of this just for the odd juxtaposition) and Dr. Spock's baby care books (which prompted a law suit by Dr. Spock when he found out). Considering my shock on discovery, it just shows the lengths to which culture can change while erasing the memory of its path.

Final note. I'm so off the tobacco path (quit smoking after I turned 18; legality made it all boring and shit) that I misspelled "cigarette" every time I try to use it.