reading outside your neighborhood

i gave up magazine subscriptions a couple of years ago when i realized that i was cluttering my house with paper books with good articles but lots more advertising than reading material. unless i was going to cut out the articles and file them ( i wasn't), i didn't need the extra bulk laying around.

so i only read magazines at the doctor's office or the hair salon.

but then my parents gave us a gift subscription to The Smithsonian for Christmas. it was an awesome gift. it was the kind of gift you never think to buy for yourself. it was a window to the world.

yeah, yeah. i know what you are thinking. . . the internet provides an entire window wall to the world. true. but i pick and choose what i want to look at when i am surfing. . . if it doesn't look interesting, i keep my mouse click to myself.

but The Smithsonian, now here is a magazine that has a wide variety of topics and photos and a smaller advert section than say. . . well, the magazine with the sweetened, condensed-version articles which has slowly become an advertising piece with reading material thrown in for good measure. and because The Smithsonian is so well done, it earns a place on my coffee table.

and people actually pick it up and read about something that they would probably never take the time to look at on the web.

see, i love the internet and all the good, the bad, and the ugly it has to offer. . . but i have become more selfish knowledge consumer and lost being a more well-rounded reader that a magazine like The Smithsonian encourages. and hey, they are running a subscription special of $12 for 12 issues right now.

so challenge yourself to read outside what you normally read this week. and go look at a copy of The Smithsonian. . . at least visit them on the web. . . who knows what you might find. . .