Tool 11 from our 12 Tools of Christmas
Magazines can be useful tools to inspire and inform
Magazines are tools, if you use them the way I do. And I owe this more attention than what follows. Those printed, gloriously curated, thought-over, considered relics of the pre-digital age are filled with inspiration and useful technical how-to.
While I still write for a number of print magazines, I still enjoy reading them, too. The last two issues I read of Popular Mechanics have been two of the most interesting issues of anything I have ever read. What other publication goes from Air Force prototyping to the magicians’ magician to a tool review to how Hollywood set designers built entire “suburbs” atop and around airplane manufacturing facilities during World War II. There’s how to and then there’s this.
It’s interesting what’s curated, culled, checked, double-checked and designed by interested people interested in the interesting. Sure, I ramble on heralding a paintbrush or during a deck project, but magazines are more than just a helpful resource or inspiration. Find out how things work in their pages, but more inveigling: find out why things work.
What magazines are helpful as tools in your work or hobbies?
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