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Canal Boat and Inland Waterways
by dmandrew
There are two principal magazines for canal lovers - Canal Boat and Waterways World. I subscribe to the latter, because I came across it first and liked it, but I enjoy reading Canal Boat whenever I can see a copy.
It's on slightly larger paper, but the paper feels slightly less glossy and a bit thinner. Overall, in pages ... and price, it's very much on a par.
A nice feature is that you get to know the regular contributors well, as each one has a picture and a mini-biography just inside the front cover.
In the issue I most recently read, they were:
Adam Porter - boat tester
David Oakes - photographer
Hugh McKnight - history
Derek Pratt - landscape photographer
Steve Haywood - described as opinionated, informed and entertaining
Mortimer Bones - very brainy and keen on D-I-Y
Tony Brooks - maintenance and technical expert
Phil Speight - renowned boat painter
Nick Wall - editor
Typically, there will be a punchy editorial at the beginning, some boat tests that tell you exactly what the testers think, boat show previews and reviews, a cruising description of one of the canals or canal routes in the country, the latest waterways news, waterways personalities, technical advice, restoration news, lively letters, history and many other interesting articles for the waterways lover.
It's a cheerful magazine, though one from which you can learn a lot about canals and canal boating. Some bits are useful for the first-timer, and there's also a lot for experienced boaters as well.
The magazine carries quite a lot of advertising, but as it is virtually all relevant to waterways users, it is interesting and useful to read as well.
There's a good website for the magazine at www.canalboat.co.uk and you can currently subscribe for just £30 (2009) for a year or £58 for two years.
Not bad!
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BBC Sky At Night Magazine
by markos9
Sky at Night magazine is a companion publication to the very successful BBC 2 series hosted by Sir Patrick Moore and Dr Chris Lintott. The TV programme is the longest running series in the world, and Sir Patrick has only missed one episode of the programme since it launched in 1957. The magazine was launched four years ago and has been ... quite successful in further promoting astronomy as a hobby.
Part of the reason for the magazine's success is that both Sir Patrick and Chris Lintott, both successful authors as well as presenters, make significant contributions to each issue. In my opinion, the other main reason for the success is that, as a BBC publication, the magazine is able to draw upon the programmes archives. Each magazine is accompanied by a CD-ROM that contains recent full episodes from the series, and sometimes historical ones, too.
The magazine is aimed at the beginner to intermediate level, amateur astronomer. For the beginner, there's articles on the basics of astronomy (such as how to set up a telescope), together with guides on how to observe. For more advanced amateurs, there are in-depth articles on topics such as astrophotography.
For me, the most impressive thing about the magazine is the photography. The BBC is able to get hold of the best images from the world's largest telescopes (such as Hubble). These can be shown as a full or even two page image and are incredibly impressive. Each issue of the magazine has stunning images like these.
The magazine itself is divided into three sections, regulars, features, and a guide to the night sky. Regular topics include articles by Sir Patrick and Chris, a very comprehensive news section with full coverage of recent events, as well as monthly reviews of astronomical kit. These can include side by side comparisons of binoculars or telescopes, for example. There's also a glossary of astronomical terms for the beginner to refer to (I find it annoying when an article assumes I know what a word or phrase means).
The features section presents more in-depth articles. These are, of course, lavishly illustrated with diagrams explaining the text, and more of those wonderful photographs.
Quite advanced and up to date topics are tackled here. Recently, a four page article detailed Stephen Hawking's latest theory on the evolution of the universe. Luckily, despite the mathematical nature of the theory, the article was written in a readable, non-mathematical way, that anyone could understand. The feature articles are a real asset for the magazine. I find I can sit down and read all of them in one sitting (of about an hour).
The guide to the night sky has maps showing what the sky will look like over the coming month (as the Earth moves around the sun, the constellation visible during the night changes over the course of the year).
This section shows where all the planets can be found, and features different astronomical objects to look for using naked eye, binoculars, as well as small and large telescopes. It can be quite satisfying using the sky maps and tracking down the object shown in the magazine. This is a great resource for the amateur.
There are many different objects that can be viewed from your back garden. Whilst you won't see them in the detail shown by the Hubble Space Telescope, it can be awe inspiring to realise that the fuzzy oval you're looking at through binoculars, is over 2 million light years away (the Andromeda galaxy), and that the light you're seeing left Andromeda before the human race began!
Hopefully, you will have realised from my review that I'm seriously impressed with the Sky at Night Magazine. I think it balances the needs of the beginner and the more advanced amateur perfectly. The wonders of the night sky are showcased by some brilliant writers and awesome photographs.
Anyone with an interest in the night sky should consider a subscription. Anyone else picking up the magazine will probably find something of interest in here even if they're not keen on astronomy. Highly recommended.
The magazine costs £4.25 per issue; a typical magazine price. Buying on subscription, however, can bring the price down significantly. Currently there's an offer of 12 issues for £40.80, giving an issue price of £3.40.
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Cross-Stitch Magazines
by herbie__53
I have been an avid cross stitcher since I was a little girl - I find it relaxing and its great to see a stitched picture take shape as you work your way through it. There are loads of online shops where you can buy kits from, and there are also several magazines which you can buy on the subject.
These titles ... include:
Cross Stitcher
Cross Stitch Gold
Quick and Easy Cross Stitch
Cross Stitch Crazy
I have bought and read all of these magazines in the past, and though they are all on the same subject, I find them to be totally different.
Quick and Easy Cross Stitch and Cross Stitch Crazy focus on the busy stitcher that completes small projects like cards, and small scenes or pictures. I find the charts to be of a lesser quality than I'd perhaps like - they dont use backstitch or fractional stitches to their full potential as they are focusing on time here rather than the neatness of the picture. As a result of this I find the designs are often very "blocky" - they would look so much better with smooth edges, but this takes more time.
Cross Stitch Gold features more advanced pictures - often very large with stunning images. These will take the stitcher much longer, and are not aimed at beginners. This is more in the region of what I would expect a cross stitch magazine to be about - quality pictures that you have to put the time into to get the desired result.
Cross Stitcher, in my opinion, is the best cross stitch magazine out there. Often you get a free gift with the magazine, this is usually a free kit, and the quality of these free kits are amazing. At the moment I am doing one of these free kits (which is a Margaret Sherry Cattitudes kit) for my Mum for her birthday. You get all the threads pre-sorted for you, and the kit comes with everything you need such as needle, fabric etc. Compared to the quality of other magazine's free gifts, these ones really do stand a cut above the rest. Cross Stitcher normally features a variety of charts - small ones for cards or towels, medium sized pictures and large masterpieces. They cater for everyone and the charts are always of a high quality and often by well known designers.
All the magazines are roughly priced the same at around £4, and all will include a few pages on how to get started if you are a beginner, but try Cross Sticher before you try any of the others as it's the better of them.
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