There used to be a handful of magazines of interest to folks like us….Robert Brown, over at Soldier Of Fortune, had the remarkably shortlived ‘Survive’ magazine (famous for the cover photo of a cow in a gas mask), American Survival Guide which got neutered to the point where it was more merciful to pull the plug (although one of their staffers keeps a version of it alive online), and a few others. Backwoods Home Journal has taken up some of the slack but it isnt exactly the same. Now, one magazine doesnt really cover everything…like much in life, it takes several sources to fill the need.
I mention this because I recently got a subscription to Popular Mechanics. Good stuff. The advertisements alone are worth the asking price. Plus theres gobs o’ stuff in there that are useful to me…new tools on the market, lighting and plumbing developments, new technologies, etc, etc. Good stuff. Current issue has some articles on new breeds of nuclear reactors (esp. the pebble-bed style that Im interested in), the development of new military dirigibles, tons of cool advertisements, Tesla sports cars, etc, etc, etc. A subscription to Make, Mother Earth, Backwoods Home, Popular Mechanics, Guns & Ammo and Shotgun News would probably round out the well-informed periodicals list handily.
So, if you had the resources and were limited to , say, five magazines or periodicals for your preparedness needs, what would they be? (No smart ass answers like: “Hustler. So I have a reson to live”)
“Backwoods home” is my number one right now.
I also very much enjoy “The backwoodsman”, although thats more primitive living/lost in the woods kind of survival. “Wilderness way” is another good choice for primitive skills. (any mag that covers Ron Hood is good in my book.)
“Home Power” has lots of solutions for off grid power, though I’m not sure it would merit a subscription.
And of course, QST magazine for my inner radio geek.
Looking forward to the responses, thank you.
I would think something along the lines of Field & Stream might be handy to have if you’re in the beginnings of getting prepped for TEOTWAWKI – learning about hunting & fishing, and field dressing & prep of same would be a good thing to know.
1. Mother Earth News
2. Popular Mechanics
3. Homebrewer
4. Guns & Ammo
5. American Handgunner
I saved copies of ASG for a long time because of the articles, but recently I went back through them and decided that in fact, none of the articles had much actual useful information. So I threw the whole stack. I think that’s common for periodicals. Their main advantage is the coverage of new stuff, but that too often turns into puff pieces to sell more ads.
Mother Earth News
Back Home
Countryside
Home Power
Backwoods Home
choices?
backwoodsman
backswoodhome
make
Wildflower 06
I was going to mention Mother Earth News, which I’ve always liked, but then you spoiled that for me. I also like Home Power, which someone else mentioned. Incidentally, one can download issues for free:
http://www.homepower.com/
Well, they used to offer PDF issues for free, I guess they don’t anymore.
QST is boring, boring, boring and rarely has any truly useful data. CQ is probably better for radio stuff. For electronics and things, I like Circuit Cellar and for machining stuff, there’s Home Shop Machinist.