are all magazines useless?
 

Every once in a while, when I am flying or have a long trip I will get a magazine. Gradually my disdain for magazines has grown. This stems from the realization that all magazines seem to have just genvery basic, general info about whatever topic they are about. I find it pretty weird that a magazine targeting a specific group of people who will for the most part be knowledgeable about the topic will only have really simple obvious advice. Like the poker magazine I found in the cardom today had articles like "5 tips to avoid tilt. #1 take a time out", as well as pathetic interview of unknown "celebreties" who play poker. I don't mean to just hate on the poker magazine, but all magazines on a topic like this (golf, fitness, poker) seem to be filled with complete crap.

The only magazines that were ever really worth the 6 bucks were the video game magazines I used to get, and that was only because they had pictures of video games I would drool over. Do magazines ever have anything useful/interesting?

Re: are all magazines useless?
 

I like cooking magazines for flights, the pictures make me a little hard.

Re: are all magazines useless?
 

I like The Economist but there isn't much coverage of video games in it.

Re: are all magazines useless?
 

Are we talking just magazines, or all periodicals? If the latter, then I highly recommend Granta.

Scott

Re: are all magazines useless?
 

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I like The Economist but there isn't much coverage of video games in it.

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can't go wrong with the economist..you feel smarter after an hour.

Re: are all magazines useless?
 

Yea classic Nintendo Power and Next Generation were amazing; videogame magazines were good up until the late 90's when the Internet took over.

I was flipping through Psychology Today today and there's a ton of interesting stuff in there.

Re: are all magazines useless?
 

For flights I like reading Playboy or the Atlantic because these are two of the handful of magazines that have 3 hours or so of interesting and well-written material in them. I mean, Maxim is great light reading but you're done with it in 20 minutes.

Re: are all magazines useless?
 

Try Fine Cooking or Cook's Illustrated. If you're hungry, it's better than porn. And you'll get tons of ideas for recipes and learn about different ingredients.

Re: are all magazines useless?
 

What about the national geographic magazines? They seem to have lots of articles that aren't so shallow.

Re: are all magazines useless?
 

magazines need to sell to the masses. so they tend to be simple. so the ones to get are for things you dont know alot about and the basics are good for you.
or get one like mother earth new that have many articles about making different things all of which make you a more rounded person.

Re: are all magazines useless?
 

Nature and Science are good.

I read The Economist occasionally on plane trips. Solid mag.

Re: are all magazines useless?
 

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Try Fine Cooking or Cook's Illustrated. If you're hungry, it's better than porn. And you'll get tons of ideas for recipes and learn about different ingredients.

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these are both great. As are many magazines that don't try to sell to the lowest common denominator.

on that note, ESPN The Magazine is probably the worst magazine/book/publication of any kind that I have ever seen.

Re: are all magazines useless?
 

I subscribe to like 3 Mags

the first is obvious , Cardplayer
Mopar Madness <since I own a classic car, good stuff in here>
Relix <jamband nerd mag>

the sad part is of course I never get to read all of them but they are cheap enough to renew

Re: are all magazines useless?
 

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the first is obvious , Cardplayer

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Is it? I play poker for a living, and I think Cardplayer is a POS, especially for cash game-only players like me.

Re: are all magazines useless?
 

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I like The Economist but there isn't much coverage of video games in it.

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can't go wrong with the economist..you feel smarter after an hour.

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I agree-just don't become pretentious to the point where you're this guy

Re: are all magazines useless?
 

I really enjoy reading The Economist and The New Yorker.

I also get some informational enjoyment out of reading the Atlantic, although I prefer the first two magazines.

If I want to practice my page turning skills a magazine like FHM or Maxim satisfies that desire.

Re: are all magazines useless?
 

I like Vogue, pretty pictures.

Re: are all magazines useless?
 

Some relative keeps giving me subscriptions to the Smithsonian magazine, and I really enjoy the variety of topics discussed; any one issue might contain articles on art, nature, history, space exploration, music, etc.

Swede

Swede

Re: are all magazines useless?
 

I regularly read Men's Health, FHM, Maxim, and a few others....yeah poker magazines do suck, but you have to realize that the average poker player sucks.

Re: are all magazines useless?
 

I enjoy Newsweek for brainless bathroom reading.

Re: are all magazines useless?
 

Yes, any magazine that covers a specific subject are is pretty much useless. They just cover the same stuff over and over.

Re: are all magazines useless?
 

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I enjoy Newsweek for brainless bathroom reading.

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Me too. Also U.S. News and World Report.

Re: are all magazines useless?
 

Best bathroom reading = national geographic
Its also the only magazine I read and occasional the Economist.

Re: are all magazines useless?
 

as you mentioned gamer mags are worth it. to me mainly because they rate games and explain the pros and cons so i can make educated game purchases. with games costing what they do today its nice to read a side by side review of x football game vs y football game before buying.

i also think consumer digest type mags are awesome when you are in the market for something big like a car or big tv or such. i personally dont feel the consumer digests are worth subscribing to because once a year when i need one i just go buy the one that has to do with the product im after. a subscribtion would be a waste of $$ and overkill.

Re: are all magazines useless?
 

Scientific American is good too.

Re: are all magazines useless?
 

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as you mentioned gamer mags are worth it.

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They used to be worth it. Now that you can get reviews on the Internet for free, they aren't worth it (unless you are getting them for the demo discs).

Re: are all magazines useless?
 

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Yes, any magazine that covers a specific subject are is pretty much useless. They just cover the same stuff over and over.

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Workout Magazine are by far the worst.

Get a one year subscription and then you never have to touch another workout mag again. Every other issue there is a new "SUmmer AB Workout" "BIceps in 6 weeks" "Ab Blast Workout" "Bicep BUsting Bonanza"


Its very, very lame.

Re: are all magazines useless?
 

For magazines that deal with specialized areas, like poker, or maybe workouts or tennis or something, they run out of interesting topics quite quickly. However the editors and publishers continue to be under pressure to come up with good stuff, so a lot of the time they rework old stories and old content.

Meanwhile, the suggestions here have been good. I'll add Popular Science, Popular Mechanics and Golf Digest as three of the ones I like most for plane rides. Playboy is also terrific, but often you'll get in a beef reading it on a plane.

But, that does remind me that Cindy Margolis is in this month's issue. I better grab a copy on my way home tonight...

http://www.gambling911.com/Cindy-Margolis.gif

Re: are all magazines useless?
 

all those pics of her are severely airbrushed...save your money

Re: are all magazines useless?
 

[ QUOTE ]
all those pics of her are severely airbrushed...save your money

[/ QUOTE ]lol welcome to 10 years ago

Re: are all magazines useless?
 

Everyone on the forums seems to love the economist, but I bet if you follow world news really closely the economist is boring too.

Re: are all magazines useless?
 

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Workout Magazine are by far the worst.


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There's a lot of competition for the worst. Photo magazines always give positive reviews and their "tips and techniques" are usually pretty lame.

Re: are all magazines useless?
 

For now on I will only read general science magazines, or the economist.

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I got some good use out of guitar mags when I was a youngster.

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The Economist is an outstanding magazine. Read it, then read Time. It will make you laugh.

Science is also good, for us research/science types.

Re: are all magazines useless?
 

Most magazines are pretty bad, I will agree. However, I do like a few for specific purposes:

Bathroom Reading: Newsweek (short news blurbs), Maxim (mindless entertainment), 2600 (mostly crap but sometimes entertaining/informative), Popular Mechanics / Popular Science (new tech/science stuff), Game Informer (probably the best video game magazine out there)
Plane Trips: The Economist (actually intelligent, well-written and in-depth articles)
Waiting in-between hands at the casino: Cardplayer (obviously)

Re: are all magazines useless?
 

"New Yorker", "Atlantic Monthly", and "Washington Monthly" all have well researched and written articles about non-obvious stuff.

If you read crap like Maxim for the articles, then you get what you deserve.

Re: are all magazines useless?
 

I had a subscription to Sports Illustrated for something like 20 years (my dad first got it for me when I was 12), and it used to be an outstanding magazine with top-notch, in-depth writing, superior analysis, and amazing photography. I looked forward to reading it every week.

A few years ago, however, there was some sort of management change at Time/Life, and someone mandated a shift to a more sports/entertainment style. There was a new section that was basically gossip, how such-and-such sports personality was at such-and-such game with such-and-such movie star, or some crap like that. And there were a lot of articles that were just fluff that I had never noticed before.

So I canceled my subscription, and I don't really miss it, except for the swimsuit issue.