Popular Science would have more varities of articles, and probably more home repair stuff. 30 or more years ago, I got both of them, as well as Popular Electronics (now gone). Back then, they were good magazines. Most magazines these days are worthless crap, with mostly advertising. I wonder how these are now????
Hi,
I would like to get my son a subscription to either Popular Science, or perhaps Popular Mechanics.
I see that both are (still) publishing, but seem a lot thinner than I remember them.
Might I please have your opinions as to which one is considered "better" these days ? Why ?
Home fix-it-ups, would be his major interest.
e.g., which types of screws to use, where, etc. Replacing a door lock, etc...
Thanks, Bob
I did not renew my Pop Sci subscription. Articles are very different , type font way too small for my old eyes. Nothing in it relevant to me personally, so bye bye.
Maybe
Don.
My vote would be Scientific American. There's not much home fixup stuff, but then I don't see much in Pop Sci or Pop Mechanics anymore either, and the articles are usually good quality.
Subscribed to SA 30+ years ago when the articles were a lot more technical. I'm sure by now they've dumbed down the subject matter a lot to appeal to right wing readers and added lots of pretty pictures STG
Unless I'm confused by your requirements, it doesn't seem to me that either of those two magazines would be the correct choice. How often do you think Pop Sci or Pop Mech publishes an article on replacing a door lock or fixing a sink or hanging a door?
It seems to me that a book dedicated to home repair would be the better choice.
When I bought my first house about 30 years ago, someone gave me a book on home repair. A big mother, probably 3" thick. I used extensively for a number of years as I upgraded a lot of my electrical and plumbing systems, built and roofed a shed, built a deck, etc. I learned a heck of a lot from that book. A lot of my friends were buying houses at roughly the same time and that same book was my standard house-warming gift.
I don't recall the name/publisher of the book, but I know exactly where it is so I'll take a look tonight. It may be somewhat outdated by now, but perhaps they've printed a more modern edition. In any case there are lots of books out there, but of course some are more in depth than others. This was one of the good ones. I'll post back once I have the info so you'll see what I'm talking about.
For homeowner articles and how-tos, I like Family Handyman. I used to get Pop Sci, but like Steve, I can't read many of their articles anymore due to their use of small fonts combined with colored backgrounds.
OK, I found the info on the book I used when I bought my first house.
Renovation: A Complete Guide, by Michael W. Litchfield
I had the first edition, published in 1983, but a 4th edition by the same author came out in 2012 (hardcover) and 2013 (softcover).
Here is a link to the most recent edition:
This is the one I made good use of. No longer have it, but I kind of miss it. Of course there was no internet back then.
When I read the title shown in the link I thought it was one of those self help, reach-your-true-potential books. ;-)
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