How Much Do You Read?

What I did (I am no longer a active modeler) was scan magazine and then reread in detail. I read letters to editor and articles of interest. It is hard to say what I read - I might read a construction article if I thought I would build item or if it contained techniques of interest.

I read most layout articles - unless it was heavy on "made-up history" or was heavy on operation.

Since I had 50+ years of magazines I often went back and reread magazines; finding new things to read (after all over the years you might change from modeling PRR 1936 to BNSF 2003 - so there is always new things to be found, even in old magazines).

Some seem so sure of staying in narrow modeling grove that they clip articles and throw rest of magazines away. I never could clip magazines.

I probably read about 80% or more of the articles and about 90% of the ads. The aricles I read unless they are something tht I'm absolutely not interested in AND offer no techniquest that I'd be likely to use. An outdoor garden layoug article comes to mind in this category. I read the letters, the editorials and the regular dolumns.

The ads I skim looking for that "can't pass up" bargain. No, I don't read every one, line for line.

I even glance through the HO classifieds as well.

This all takes place over the course of two months. I have seldom read the entire magazine when a new one comes along. I usually keep the last three or four handy so that I can have plenty of options when the spirit moves me to read something.

dlm

Read most everything. I do notice that friends tend to not read everything, but my thought is that if I'm spending that kind of money to buy the magazine, I might as well read everything, or I feel like I'm wasting money...

:D

Kennedy

I sit down and soak in a hot tub late at night. What ever does'nt get dunked gets read....

Jim Stewart

Thats an interesting question.

With RMC, I do a quick 15 minute scan of articles and adverts. I put a lot of "yellow stickys" on pages with ads I am interested in, items in the "new products column I'm interested in, and articles too. I read the collector's / history article in the back at that time,. though I am not at all a collector.

Over the next week or two I'll read every article, usually one an evening. If something really interests me, I'll read the article twice. I'll hit the ads and the new products column several times while I'm reading articles.

With the Gazette, I skim it coming back from the mailbox. I'll "yellow sticky" some ads and new products.

I'll wait until everybody else has gone to bed that night and then I'll stay up and read the Gazette from cover to cover, blessedly uninterrupted by SWMBO or kids.

I hadn't really realized until I read your question that I have two very different patters or reading the mags I take. Odd.

-- Jim McLaughlin

Please don't just hit the reply key. Remove the obvious from the address to reply.

salvé "Ctyclsscs" skrev i meddelandet news: snipped-for-privacy@mb-m02.aol.com...

Dear Jim, By the end of the month I have read the magazine from cover to cover, be it railway, aircraft or other, I read the things that interest me first then progress towards the uninteresting on the basis of the idea that there may very well be something worthwhile there, and LO! there usually is :) Beowulf

Lately I have been only buying mags after seeing them in a store and if there is something in there I like then I get it. Usually read 90 percent of what is in there unless it is something really really out of my area of interest like

Read what is of interest first, then the mag goes into the bathroom where I read the remainder.

That about sums it up, best reading room in the house, no one disturbs you.

Railpace. Narrow Gauge Gazette. O Gauge Railroading. Cover to cover.

The other mags, just seem to flip through them. An occasional good article gets read.

You read all the classified ads too?

Yuo've gotta be kidding, the most certain way to get that phonecall you've been waiting for is to go sit in the bathroom. Keith Make friends in the hobby. Visit Garratt photos for the big steam lovers.

Salvé "Mark Mathu" skrev i meddelandet news: snipped-for-privacy@posting.google.com...

Yes often I do, simply out of pure jealousy that US modellers can go into a store so easily to get their stuff :D Also it is useful to know where an item can be obtained or even that it can be obtained, and some items are unique (tools) to the US so the ads are worth a read yes :) Beowulf

I usually read them first, I am just starting back into it so I am also looking for everything.

I have found I closely read less and skim more whether it be for work or fun (model related, photography, computer information, etc.). Some publications are discarded immediately, some I keep for a year, and some I keep forever like MR and Trains. I have recently discarded some old (10 yrs. +) magazines but I still kept some old issues for the content. I also tear out some technical and work-related articles for future reference if they appear to be worthwhile. I keep some of the posts from newsgroups like this one. If I need some information that is not in my personal collection, I'll use personal contacts, the Internet, public libraries, and the local university library for research. About 10 to 15 years ago, I realized that I could not keep copies of everything that I thought was worthwhile to have. That is what libraries are for.

I work in a university library and many of them are cutting back on subscriptions to magazines, especially technical and scientific journals whose subscription prices have gone thru the roof over the past few years (that is a long story of greed that is too complex for this forum).

You can probably find the information you need thru an interlibrary loan but its getting too expensive for most libraries to carry all the magazines that they used to.

A lot of info is on the web for free but not all of it is available that way or you might have to pay to access it online.

One thing that i used to do before I retired and went to a limited and lower income was, after having checked with the branch manager at the local Portland / Multnomah County Library, was to buy a gift subscription to each of RMC and MR and renew those each year. Made a nice gift and I sure know where I can find old articles and not have the burden of storing the mags. I regret that i can't justify that cost any more, and regret even more that the Multnomah County Library branch I worked through has not kept up the subscriptions.

-- Jim McLaughlin

Please don't just hit the reply key. Remove the obvious from the address to reply.

Now that is an awesome idea!

It might be possible to look up old issues using the internet. The local public library here in Columbia, MO provides access. Using the resource in the library terminals is pretty simple; however access from home is tricky. It might be possible to gain access thru local schools or colleges.