Why I Still Buy Magazines

3. The Atlantic

I picked this excellent magazine up randomly when I was on holiday in Florida a few years back – and ended up taking out a subscription. I really wish there was a magazine like this in the UK – a monthly, current affairs mag that covers a whole range of subjects, with really in-depth reporting and some great illustration and photography. This is real “sit back and enjoy” journalism, intelectually-challenging, thought-provoking and really best enjoyed in an armchair with a good whisky (or possibly a cup of coffee if read before midday…) The sharp left wing/right wing divide of near UK equivalents like The Spectator or the New Statesmen leave me cold, so I pay to have this shipped across the, well, Atlantic.

4. Fast Company

Another US import, and a print magazine about the digital age, to boot. I should be handing in my social media credentials now, shouldn’t I? But it’s another magazine with great design and great photography, which is always a winner with me. But beyond that, it’s one of those real “discovery by browsing” titles, where I come across things I didn’t know that I wanted to know. The web isn’t good at that, but paper is ideally suited to it.
That said, the attarction of this magazine is slowly being eaten away by the web – including its own, strong website.

**5. BBC Countryfile
**

Lastly, my rural porn. I’m a countryside boy at heart. I grew up in rural Scotland, and I yearn to escape Lewisham and go and live somewhere where encoutering animals is a daily occurance, not something noteworthy. For a long time Sunday morning’s Countryfile has been an interesting combination of longing and torture, and now the monthly magazine is much the same. Again, as in common with the other titles, nice design and lashings of ginger beer photography, a good degree of browsability, and plenty of genuinely useful material. Oh, and they have an enjoyable podcast, too.

I suppose I should tag some people. How about Kristine, Joanna, Andy, Dan and Becky?