Review: Good Advice in an Easy To Read Format
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 07 29, 2012
Imagine picking up a really good gardening and homesteading magazine that has been edited down to the most important information in each article, then had all of the advertisements removed. Now, imagine that in digital format, without the annoying aspect of not being able to hold your place in the publication. That's exactly what you get here.The articles are well-written and edited. Each is informative and interesting. Even on topics that I have some knowledge in, I was able to glean some additional expertise.This edition was the first that I read, so that's why I am writing this review for it. After reading this one, I immediately downloaded several others and devoured them. It was that good.There are a lot of things I love about this publication. For one - publishing it as a monthly e-book, rather than a magazine was a stroke of genius. Any of us who've subscribed to kindle magazines have discovered the annoying fact that you can't hold your place in a magazine. So, when you put that publication down and pick it up later, you have to page through it to find the article where you left off. The e-book format has eliminated that problem. I can be in the middle of an article and turn off my kindle to go do something else and when I come back to it, it's still on the page I was reading. Just like a book.Each article begins with a short run down of what the project that you are about to read about involves in terms of cost, time and difficulty. This is a great feature because you may be looking for something to do for a few hours on an afternoon and you know that you can skip over the more time-consuming projects. Or you may not have any money at the moment so you know to skip over the ones that cost more than you can afford. I tend to shy away from really difficult tasks because I know that I'll end up getting frustrated and not finish it so I will avoid those ones that are difficult until, at least, I have a helper. There aren't many difficult projects in the magazine, btw.Another thing that I like is that the articles are written in plain english. You don't need a horticulture degree or engineering degree to understand what she is writing about. She is also very thorough in explaining things and does include some photographs. The articles are both friendly and helpful and make it feel like I am talking to a knowledgable friend or neighbor, rather than reading a DIY article.I could read these for free each month through my Amazon Prime account but I've chosen to buy them all because they have so much useful material that I will, no doubt, end up referencing again and again. Definitely worth having around for the long haul and the price can't be beat.