MetaChat - Which journals or periodicals do you subscribe to?

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03 March 2008

Which journals or periodicals do you subscribe to? And do you actually read them?
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I have a paid subscription to ComputerActive, which I think I've probably outgrown now, but as it's only £1.20 every two weeks, I decided not to cancel it. It's my bathroom reading of choice and every once in a while it'll have something really useful in it.

I also get a free subscription to The Lawyer, which is sent to the office. I usually browse it, but it's focused more on City firms than the type of work I do. But every week my team-mate Bill and I go through the jobs section and he picks out the one he thinks I should go for and I choose my favourite (I'm not looking for a job, this is just for fun.) So I always choose the Cayman Islands or Bermuda, and he picks Moscow, The Falklands or, one week, the job he thought was perfect for me, in a secure compound in Basra, Iraq. I destroyed the magazine before he could send off my resume ...

There's something I really like about getting a magazine through the post. As part of my Sky satellite TV subscription, I also get the Sky magazine, but never, ever read it. I just tear off the page with my address on it, shred that and throw the mag in the recycling.

post by: essexjan at: 13:23 | 39 comments

Time Out. The listings are too dense to bother parsing on a regular basis, so usually I just have a squizz at the letters page and the TV listings and the interviews, and that's it.

posted by cillit bang 03 March | 13:34

I get a free subscription to the USBC bowling magazine, appropriately titled "US Bowler", with my membership. I like reading the accomplishments section - they publish oustanding games from amateur bowlers all over the country.

I bought a subscription to Spin magazine recently, but I really only did it so that a neighbor girl could raise money to attend nursing school.

posted by muddgirl 03 March | 13:43

I subscribe to TapeOp, because it's free. I read every issue, but not all of every issue; a lot of the interviews are with people I don't know about talking about music production stuff I don't really care about, and it tends toward the wonky on that front besides.

I also subscribe to Game Informer, because it comes with the Gamestop (nee EB) discount card; I do not read it so much as pass 15 minutes every month marveling at how much the internet has made this sort of magazine pointless.

posted by cortex 03 March | 13:44

I used to subscribe to Edge, the gaming magazine for grown-ups. But I'm cutting back on frivolous expenditure, so no more.

For some reason I subscribed to Which? a while ago; probably some special offer or free gift or something. I get nothing out of it, apart from the occasional chuckle at how obsessively they'll make a hundred identical dirty plates to test the dishwashers or whatever. I've had "Cancel Which? subscription" on my to-do list for, like, months now.

And, of course, my professional interests: Physics World (the membership magazine of the Institute of Physics) and Cathedral Music (the membership magazine of Friends of Cathedral Music). I do actually read these.

posted by chrismear 03 March | 13:46

Yeah, one or two.

The Economist - my favourite subscription, thankfully a gift because I can't afford it
The New Yorker - again, we don't pay for it. I devour it the day it comes in.
Time Out NY - a must for my music loving husband. He goes to at least one show a week.
ACBL Bridge Magazine. Heh. mine.
National Geographic - Although it's getting ridiculous, I really need to give some away, we can't afford the space to store them
Sports Illustrated. Not mine.

posted by gaspode 03 March | 13:46

Yoga Journal, though I think I may have just let that one expire. I'll probably try to renew it. I do read it, and I found that it's a pretty good replacement for all the women's magazines I used to read -- it's fluffy and lifestyle-oriented, but the underlying message is "You're wonderful! Here's why!" rather than "You're defective! Here's how to fix it before anyone notices!"

The Therapist, which is the magazine published by the state chapter of Marriage and Family Therapists, and which came as part of my membership there. I sometimes skim through it, especially the part that describes why various therapists have lost their licenses. Heh heh. Scandal!

Harvard Magazine, which is automatically sent to students and alum, and which I adore. Really well-written articles about a wide range of stuff, written for a smart but not necessarily knowledgeable audience. Plus I find their limitation of only profiling people who have in some way been affiliated with the university kind of giggle-inducing. The magazine manages to be pretentious and accessible all at once.

I used to get Eating Well, but I found that the recipes just weren't very good. And I think I somehow ended up with a subscription to Seed, which I want to like but just never feel very motivated to read.

posted by occhiblu 03 March | 13:49

I'm a magazine junkie. I subscribe to The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, Harper's, The Economist, Scientific American, Newsweek, The Nation, Mother Jones, Reason, The Threepenny Review, The Week, Consumer Reports, and The New York Review of Books (I think this one has lapsed, or my postman is stealing it. Haven't gotten one in a while). I also buy Foreign Affairs quarterly.

The Economist and The Atlantic are the two I could not live without. The former because it is quite simply the greatest weekly publication on the planet* and the latter because it's a great mix of long-form journalism and shorter articles, perfect bathroom reading material.

*Yes, I think it's better than the New Yorker. I love Eustace Tilley, but as far as giving me the bird's-eye view on international current events, nothing beats The Economist.

posted by BitterOldPunk 03 March | 13:52

I just browsed the latest ComputerActive (in case you're interested, I was eating dinner, not on the loo) and it has a fantastic little utility reviewed in there. Worth the £1.20 I paid for the magazine.

posted by essexjan 03 March | 13:52

Time, Newsweek, Wired, W, InStyle, Vogue. Yesh, I read them all.

posted by Lynsey 03 March | 13:55

My folks (basically my dad) subscribe to: Forbes, Scientific American, Mechanical Engineering, Popular Science, Volleyball, Newsweek, National Defense, Washington Post, and probably some others that I'm forgetting.

I read/look at the pretty pictures for the stuff I don't understand (National Defense, I'm looking at you) for all of them except WaPo, but I glance at that online.

(I also read through things that I'm currently working on here at work, which has moments of hilarity, such as reading Time from the 40s. Heh.)

posted by sperose 03 March | 13:56

The Economist, which I read when I have time. That's about it. When I was in high school, it was the Economist, Time, Newsweek, and Foreign Policy.

posted by dismas 03 March | 13:59

Can I just say occhiblu's sentence:

the underlying message is "You're wonderful! Here's why!" rather than "You're defective! Here's how to fix it before anyone notices!"

has made my entire day? That just nails it - that's exactly the message that irritates me, both consciously and subconsciously that people are inherently broken?

Thank you for putting that to words, occhiblu, I much prefer the "You're wonderful" message myself.

posted by Sil 03 March | 14:03

Glad to help! :-)

posted by occhiblu 03 March | 14:10

The New Yorker cover-to-cover every week, religiously.

Cooking Light, which has consistently good recipes, is fairly seasonal in its approach, and combines health, exercise, and travel content with the recipes and food-education pieces.

[My Town] magazine, which recently reinvented itself from being one of those deadly [Town] Magazines that's just full of jewely and shoe ads to being about our local culture and interesting people in a really fresh, accessible way.

Health, which I used to like but think I'm going to cancel. It's gotten really...medical in the last couple years.

Saveur, which I love more than any other food magazine of its type because it focuses more on cultures (a variety) and less on consumption trends. However, I wish their articles were longer and more in-depth.

Time allowing, I regularly read but don't keep a subscription to:
The Oxford American
National Geographic Traveler
Yankee
[Other Nearby Cities'] Magazines
Runner's World
Backpacker
and
O

(I knew I was getting older when I started actually buying O rather than just waiting for my mom to give me a stack of her already-read ones. There's some good stuff in there sometimes).

Then there are the mags I read at the gym because we have magazine exchange - I wouldn't buy these, but I'll read them while warming up on the treadmill:

Real Simple
Martha Stewart Living
Food & Wine
Bon Appetit
Conde Nast Traveler

Occhiblu sold me on looking at Yoga Journal. I'm not a frequent Yoga-er but it sounds like the content is broader than that.

posted by Miko 03 March | 14:11

I'm not a frequent Yoga-er but it sounds like the content is broader than that.

It's broader than that in the way that yoga is broader than that, if that makes sense -- the good yoga teachers I've had have always made the point that the things we learn about ourselves on the mat are useless unless we find ways to translate them into a deeper understanding of ourselves and others in the real world. I think Yoga Journal's pretty good at consistently making those psychological connections between the process of practicing yoga and the process of learning new ways of being in the world.

So, the content is always yoga-focused, but the context is usually broader. I would definitely check it out and see what you think.

And, I would say, Sally Kempton's articles on meditation and philosophy are worth the price of the entire magazine (and more). I really love her writing and her thoughts.

posted by occhiblu 03 March | 14:18

mudgirl, I get US Bowler too!!

But, as a paid subscription, I get Utne Reader and Vegetarian Times, both of which I read as much as possible. I'd like to get Men's Health, but I'd never read it. Used to get Muscle and Fitness, which I read, but I let the sub run out.

Mrs. tr33 gets Fitness and Shape and Fit Pregnancy, and reads all three. I read, or skim, the first two. Maybe I just look at the pictures . . .

posted by tr33hggr 03 March | 14:21

Shit! muddgirl!

posted by tr33hggr 03 March | 14:22

Money's tight, so magazines aren't really something I can spend money on now.

But back when I did buy magazines, I was awfully fond of The Economist for the simple reason that I was guaranteed to read something interesting inside every issue. Even the weakest issues had a neat little factoid about an obscure part of the world. I loved their snarky sense of humor, like putting Kim Jong-Il on the cover under the title "Greetings Earthlings." By way of contrast, most of the American newsweeklies I had been familiar with as an adolescent in the eighties had become increasingly lightweight and they were never particularly funny.

I love the Economist and will celebrate getting back on my financial feet by getting myself a subscription.

posted by jason's_planet 03 March | 14:26

I don't subscribe to any, because I'm cheap. But because I'm an idiot, often end up buying these ones at the stands, or else borrowing them from someone else:

Vanity Fair
Ms. Magazine
O (Oprah)
National Catholic Reporter Liberal Catholic newspaper- big on activism and social justice
Colorlines About race in the Bay Area, more or less.
Corporate Examiner (but this one's for work) Shareholder action updates from the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility.
Saudi Aramco World Propaganda magazine distributed for free by the oil company. It highlights positive cultural aspects about different Muslim communities all over the world. Interesting articles and great photography.
Shaadi Style East Indian wedding magazine. I just like the clothes. Except I gave up on in last year because they're starting to have delusions of high fashion and have become very annoying.

posted by small_ruminant 03 March | 14:27

The only thing I subscribe to in a giving-them-my-money way is Wholphin, though I buy Flight and Dirt Rag fairly regularly, and I've bought individual copies of Blab and Mome. And Sang Bleu.

Besides that, I receive a couple video-game and pop-music magazines, all of which are junk. Junk. And Black Enterprise, which, being neither black nor enterprising (I think I've made that joke here before), I donate directly to my library unread.

And here's an incomplete list of things that we receive at work that I at least leaf through: Down Beat, URB, Vibe, The Economist, Vegetarian Times, Cooks Illustrated, Harper's, The Atlantic, Bicycling, Outside. Plus some professional stuff, but that's not of any interest to anybody. I'm probably forgetting something, but you get the gist.

posted by box 03 March | 14:32

I don't subscribe to anything right now, but I read Dance Magazine at the library, and Sports Illustrated and Consumer Reports at boyfriend's house. Now that Victoria is back I may subscribe to that, and I just got a free issue of Monitoring Times and am considering subscribing to that as well.

posted by JanetLand 03 March | 14:50

I love magazines. Through a combination of gifts and discounts, I have subscriptions to: The New Yorker, Smithsonian, Vanity Fair, National Geographic Traveler, Yoga Journal, Self, Rolling Stone, Boston magazine, and a couple of dry professional librarian titles that, as box says, would interest no one (Library Collections and Technical Services, anyone?). My mom passes along Cooking Light and Prevention. I read them all, though not always cover to cover. I like to switch up the mix every so often.

posted by initapplette 03 March | 15:13

The New Yorker, cartoons and a wide variety of articles. I especially love the long articles on obscure subjects. I seldom read the fiction.
Newsweek, If there's important news, they'll at least mention it.
Cooking Light, which I browse, and seldom use to cook from, because I don't plan ahead.

I want to start getting Consumer Reports, cause it's so thorough and sincere. I don't buy a lot of stuff, but I love their testing process.

I'd love to get Harpers, Atlantic, Real Simple or Martha Stewart Living, or Vanity Fair, but enough's enough.

posted by theora55 03 March | 15:20

Allure

Atlantic Monthly

Southern Living

Prevention Magazine

House Beautiful

Domino

I read them all except Prevention. It was a gift. It's the same crap, rehashed. I bring it to work for the patients. Allure is the only beauty/fashion magazine I like. I could definitely give up Southern Living. It has more ads than content, but it was a gift as well.

I love magazines, especially the British and Australian decorating magazines, but my plate is pretty full as far as reading material goes.

posted by LoriFLA 03 March | 15:20

Nothing now. In the U.S., I used to get Gourmet, Wine Spectator, Harper's, Games, and Granta, all of which I read. I also got Atlantic Monthly and the Utne Reader for quite a while, and Glimmer Train, and I would buy CA (Communication Arts) when I felt rich, and steal/borrow it from work when I didn't.

I know there were some other things in there, as well, but these are the ones that I remember most vividly, and, I suppose, read most faithfully.

posted by taz 03 March | 15:30

Ah. Omni, Scientific American, National Geographic and Psychology Today, for sure. Damn we used to get a lot of magazines.

Of course, we didn't have internet back in them days, kiddies.

posted by taz 03 March | 15:33

I used to get about a dozen different magazines and read them all. Now it's just Newsweek and EW because small children have given me butterfly brain and short blurbs are all I can handle. And sometimes even those are too lofty and all I can handle is flipping through catalogues...or when I'm really dumb, circulars.

posted by jrossi4r 03 March | 16:15

I don't actively subscribe to anything, but I do get magazines as part of my membership in certain organizations. In my backpack right now are: Technical Communication and American Motorcyclist. They're both there just begging to be read on my train commute, but I'm busy digesting the works of Arthur Machen, which are due back at the library at some terribly near point in the future which I can't remember. I'm not terribly good at reading magazines, though I do have a complete collection of the first 76 or so issues of Nintendo Power, including every single one of the original fun club magazines. I should eBay them at some point, though they're in far-from-mint condition.

posted by Eideteker 03 March | 16:28

Also, I still have the biggest crush on muddgirl. *swoon*

posted by Eideteker 03 March | 16:30

London Review of Books (a ritual with coffee every other Saturday), passive subscriptions to two professional journals, and keep forgetting to subscribe to Private Eye again. I also get my university's magazine which sounds very much like occhiblu's Harvard journal.

posted by altolinguistic 03 March | 16:41

Oh, magazines, how I love thee.

Right now I'm just getting Game Informer, Digital Content Creator, and Knights of the Dinner Table, because I'm terribly broke and have let my other subscriptions lapse.

Once I'm regularly employed again I intend to resubscribe to Economist, Wrestling Observer, Cook's, and the Nation.

posted by jtron 03 March | 17:41

I don't pay for them, but for some reason I'm receiving Wired and Entertainment Weekly. It's odd because I actually read them with more consistency (EW at the gym, Wired on the can) than I would any other magazine, I think. I'd like to say I get Mother Jones and Bitch and all that jazz, but nope. Fluffy stuff!

posted by Ambrosia Voyeur 03 March | 17:52

I don't subscribe to a thing, and I'm very pleased with that.

posted by rhapsodie 03 March | 17:57

Wired
Mslexia

Mslexia is the best magazine for writers in the UK. No question.

posted by seanyboy 03 March | 17:57

I'd like to say I got Bitch too.

posted by box 03 March | 18:46

Also Wired.

posted by box 03 March | 18:51

Woohoo altolinguistic! I get the LRB too!

I also subscribe to Yes! Magazine.

posted by halonine 03 March | 21:27

"The Duplex Planet" I actually subscribe to. Occasionally I'll look around for small 'zines on the web, but I find I have a hard time finding anything that grabs me. If I'm in a mag store, then I'll look for small 'zines to pick up, choosing them over the glossies. If I really have to have one, then I'll go for "Juxtapoz," or something similarly arty. I've been debating on subscribing to the "Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists", because I like the scope. I should really subscribe to "Granta," as I really like that. Maybe one day.

Comics are periodicals, and I'm gradually collecting "Planetary," "The Authority," and other things by Warren Ellis, and "Top 10" and most others by Alan Moore. If people pulled their fingers out and re-printed "MiracleMan" already, I'd be all over that. I should also start picking up Will Eisner's "The Spirit" comics even though they're expensive. I still haven't completed my "Sandman" collection (the Gaiman series), and should do that too. *sigh* Need. More. Money.

(Also re: The Spirit - there's going to be a film! Yay!)

posted by Zack_Replica 03 March | 22:55

I "subscribe" to all the free ones at work.
But. I would love the Economist... alas, it doesn't show up free.

posted by mightshould 03 March | 23:01

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