These are pretty much all trade rags, so recommendation is based on if you are into the field or not. As an EE/software guy I have a wide range of technical interests.
Electronic Design: new developments in electronic components and circuits. Been a subscriber for 15+ years.
Machine Design: new tech & tutorials on older mechanical engineering technology. I think it's better than Design News :-)
Embedded Systems Design: the once-thick canon gone skinny. Good, but the website is better.
Communications of the ACM: automatically get it as an ACM member.
The above I've subscribed to for 10+ years!
IVD Technology: Covers In-Vitro Diagnostic medical instruments: my industry. The only trade journal in this specific field I know of, so I guess I have to recommend it.
Military Embedded Systems: it's a fun read sometimes, but mostly just a PR vehicle for various manufacturers.
LED Journal: the latest in LED & lighting technology. Good for keeping up to date on the field.
We used to get Smithsonian and probably should renew. Of all the magazines I've subscribed to over the years, that was probably the best.
I really enjoy IEEE Spectrum, although it's not worth the price of professional membership to me now that I'm losing my student status. It's pretty deeply technical, but not way off into academic land, and it gives me a great read on where the EE industry is at. Things like crazy new semiconductor technologies or batteries that will enable whole new categories of electronics show up in Spectrum all the time. The future of technology is notoriously hard to predict, but Spectrum at least provides an overview of what might be coming.
Rock and Ice and Climbing have gone downhill (I've been reading them since the early 90s). Alpinist (http://www.alpinist.com/ is a far better journal, though it is likely twice as expensive as both R&I and Climbing put together.
I agree, Climbing has been getting more noticeably worse than R&I, but my coworker gets em every month so I have a subscription by proxy.
I subscribe to the Alpinist Newswires RSS and do check it out online occasionally. I'm preparing to do the regular northwest face of half dome this August (first big wall), it's just one of the places I've been looking for inspiration.
I've actually been quite impressed with the Rolling Stone. Matt Taibbi reminds me of a modern day Hunter S. Thompson, and a lot of the other contributing authors write some interesting stuff too. Much better than Spin.
Just like everyone else, I subscribe to The Economist for all of the reasons elucidated in far greater detail elsewhere.
Unlike everyone else on the thread so far, I also subscribe to GQ because a) the articles are periodically interesting and have nothing to do with technology, b) just because I write software for a living doesn't mean I can't wear Diesel or Marc Jacobs (and GQ helps me stay on top of such things).
I used to subscribe to JPG Magazine, but never re-renewed after they stopped publishing for a few months.
Same combination here. The Economist is without doubt one of the most interesting magazines and even though I usually agree very much with them, it's not boring at all. Big plus: they have podcasts (word for word read by a professional speaker).
GQ has quite a few interesting articles which are usually burried deep within the magazine between a lot of ads. But I usually enjoy looking at the ads too. It's a change from my day to day stuff.
I also enjoy reading national geographic but I haven't renewed my subscription because they don't focus enough on technology.
The Economist - required reading for global economic news and opinion.
Prospect - Excellent array of current affairs articles, all of which are thought-provoking.
Private Eye - Long-standing satirical magazine aimed squarely at the UK establishment.
Wired - Seemed a good idea at the time, not sure how much value I get from it. Probably won't renew next year.
New Scientist - interesting read for an armchair science geek, but even I'm wondering if it is dumbing-down ever so slightly these days. 50/50 chance of renewing next year.
I also get regular access to Harvard Business Review as a business school alumnus, which is always worth a read, even if it is just a reminder as to why I took my MBA and said goodbye to corporate life :)
Yet another Economist subscriber here, for international affairs.
American Scientist, for science written for generalists. Bimonthly, so I'm not drowning in unread back issues (ever tried staying abreast of Nature?). To my eye, less sensational than New Scientist, and less editorializing than Scientific American. Worth it for the columns by Henry Petroski and Brian Rice even if you read nothing else.
Reason, for American libertarian political trash talk. I maintain the subscription only because my not-exactly-libertarian wife enjoys it. Domestic front propaganda, if you will.
If all three were taken from me, I would miss American Scientist very much. Highly recommended.
Harvard Business Review - Worth every penny; Great articles and case studies from a large variety of business types. There are always a few take away nuggets from each issue.
Scientific American - Been subscribing for years; Although the content seems to have diluted a bit over time, I still enjoy it, especially the armchair astrophysicist in me ;-)
Game Developer Magazine - No longer in the field but its one of my favorite magazines ever - the project postmortems and technical articles are wonderful.
My subscription to the Economist recently expired - did not renew since I had a lot of back issues piling up.
The New Yorker (One of the only magazines I find that has to be read in person and not online)
Should subscribe to The Economist too, but being a student 1) I can't afford it and 2) there is too much to read in a weekly magizine of that status! The Economist is one of the most real news sources out there. I highly recommend getting a subscription if you can afford it.
And interesting note: my subscription to Wired just expired after something like 10 years (since I was 16). I just couldn't stand it any more!
because it has the best international news reporting in an English-language weekly. I recommend it to everyone. When I get each new issue, the first thing I read is the obituary at the very back of the editorial content. That is always amazingly well written, and frequently about very interesting people I have never heard of.
to learn more about a skeptical approach to life. The included Junior Skeptic section is very good for children to read, and the magazine has very interesting book reviews (and, for that matter, advertisements for books), so I recommend Skeptic also.
as another interesting magazine about a skeptical approach to life. I find Skeptic more informative and entertaining, on the whole, but I think Skeptical Inquirer has some editorial points of view that are more warranted than some of the points of view of the Skeptic editorial board.
After edit: I also very much like the Atlantic, but the call of the question is what I subscribe to, and the Atlantic and the Wall Street Journal and the New Yorker and other worthwhile periodicals are available at the public library that I walk to almost daily. I read those there.
Well, the key is to order all of your magazines online so that they cost next to nothing.
New Yorker: Have for years, love the urban feel and the mix of arts & politics and 10,000+ word articles on very strange things. Most importantly, great writing and a great fact checking department.
The Economist: To the point, global, compact, and great writing and reporting. Plus the student rate isn't that expensive. It combines well with my Washington Post and WSJ daily subs.
City Journal: It's Quarterly, but is sort of like a more conservative free market New Yorker. Great articles with a different slant.
Atlantic Monthly: I read a lot of the articles online, and read a lot of Andrew Sullivan, so decided to support the magazine and pick it up in print as well (got 2 years for under $10 online)
GQ: For the pictures and ads, although British GQ is better it's just too expensive in the states. Personal interest in style/fashion/design.
Forbes: I let expire after they wrote an article titled "Love Global Warming" (http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2006/1225/038.html) written by the head of what is more or less an ExxonMobile thinktank. It was just too much for me.
Wired: Because it was free
Used to subscribe to Maximum PC (great magazine) when I use to tinker with computers more.
Magazines I'm looking at subscribing to:
HBS: For upcoming mgmt consulting job
Urban Land Institute: Due to a growing interest in commercial development, architecture, and urban planing
Probably a magazine on design/architecture... haven't decided what yet.
Don't subscribe to any magazines anymore. No time to read them.
But Wired still sends me free copies, which usually sit unread next to the couch until I take a flight somewhere and need reading material. I also get two alumni magazines which serve the same purpose.
Used to subscribe to Archaeology, Fine Cooking, Scientific American, Discover.
* Defence Technology International - interesting to see what is new in defence technology, subscription is free
* Bloomberg Markets - semi-technical stuff on finance, as well as solid general-interest news (I pick it up for free now and then from the local Bloomberg office)
- Technology Review for its coverage of the cutting edge in scientific and technological advancements.
- WIRED for the gadget lover in me, and they have really interesting articles about anything from vaccines to psychology.
- Mac|life for the Apple fanboy in me ;-)
GOOD (http://good.is) is the only one currently. It's bi-monthly so it's easier to get a chance to read it. It's pretty good, but I bet just reading their website daily would be better.
Inc and Fast Company at the moment. They are usually a mixed bag of good and not so good. For the price though ($12/year) they're tough to beat for decent on-the-go reading.
I don't subscribe to any, but the ones I read (either in online or print form via other subscribers) are The Economist (global news, finance, business), Technology Review (published by MIT; awesome tech insight), and Wired (just for fun).
only one - csie (computing in science + engineering). it's a great, if obscure, little magazine that focuses exactly on the kind of work i do (random scientific consulting).
The Economist, because I find their content fascinating, editorial integrity to be second to no other mainstream magazine. They even admitted their mistake for backing Bush over Gore. Plus it's fun to read all of those stodgy old Economists' write-in letters. Better than daytime television!
Electronic Design: new developments in electronic components and circuits. Been a subscriber for 15+ years.
Machine Design: new tech & tutorials on older mechanical engineering technology. I think it's better than Design News :-)
Embedded Systems Design: the once-thick canon gone skinny. Good, but the website is better.
Communications of the ACM: automatically get it as an ACM member.
The above I've subscribed to for 10+ years!
IVD Technology: Covers In-Vitro Diagnostic medical instruments: my industry. The only trade journal in this specific field I know of, so I guess I have to recommend it.
Military Embedded Systems: it's a fun read sometimes, but mostly just a PR vehicle for various manufacturers.
LED Journal: the latest in LED & lighting technology. Good for keeping up to date on the field.
We used to get Smithsonian and probably should renew. Of all the magazines I've subscribed to over the years, that was probably the best.