Genealogy Chat

Most of these mags have web sites where you can have a quick look at whats on offer and order a subscription it saves having to find a shop that sells them I have Practical history sent I think its one of the best lots of info, but they are all much better than most other mags on market sandra

Does anyone else find it frustrating that no-one apart from WHSmiths stocks ANY of the genealogy mags ? I have a local newsagents that stocks about a million different obscure magazines but not the ones I want... and wouldn't place an order for me either, so I have to make a trip into the local shopping centre (and pay for the honour of parking there !!). Annoying. PS, I too have read them all ove rthe last few months and yes there's a lot of repetition but also find the articles facinating

Before you buy - why don't you pop into your local library. My library stocks issues of magazines on all sorts of subjects -home,gardening, cars and at least one Family History one.

Hi all Grateful thanks to everyone who replied. I know my local shop doesn't stock any genealogy mags, so I feel a trip to Wh Smiths in southend coming on.I will see what is in stock when I go as to how many I buy.Family tree seems interesting so if they haven't got it in when I go...a second trip is on the cards.Maybe I will have to plead my case to local shop once I find out what ones I would like on a regular basis..Now if I was interested in any other subject there are shelves full,but it seems I always want what the don't stock...story of my life and others I expect Thankyou all once again you wonderful people Lynn

If you decide to go for Your Family Tree, you can get a subscription which gives you 30% off the cover price of £4.99 and it is delivered to you each month. You can pay by direct debit quarterly

Linda in my local WHsmith they have a history section and i can get all the family history mags. Steve

Would these be available in the local WH Smith?

Lynne You should note that your Family Tree is a good magazine but it costs £4.99. It is dearer than the other three. However, I would think that you would not need to buy the others if you had this one. It does depend on your budget and what articles interest you. The trouble is they don't all come out at the same time (by design I imagine) so you can't make a direct comparison. Ann Glos

Hi Lynn Like a lot of people I had found that most mags were either mirror copies of a different name, or related in someway which meant they would turn out the same old stuff, so I gave up buying. That is until I came across a relatively new one (8th issue out in January) called Your Family Tree. I bought it when I had an hour or more to wait somewhere and I can honestly say I've learnt more from that than dozens of the others put together. So I've ordered future issues and will hope the trend continues. It's on sale again Wednesday Feb 18th. Hope this helps Jim

I too would say Practical Family History, it always seems to have interesting and relevant articles. But I usually end up buying most of them and they are all useful. Ann Glos

Hi Lynn, I got into family history a few months ago and have tried al the magazines. All are helpful and I have read every one I have bought from cover to cover. But if I were restricted to just one, I think I would personally say that Practical Family History is the one I have found most value for money. It doesn't generally offer free CDs and suchlike but the articles are informative yet easy to read and entertaining At the end of the day, it comes down to what you want. CDroms offered on some are attractive and helpful to people who like to work with computers(though the contents can be quite repetitive - and the real benefit is in trying trial versions of programmes you might want to buy later). Family History Magazine is a heavier read - excellent but I think more for people who have been going at this a while and want something that is more educational than entertaining. One thing I would say, is that I have not yet come across any magazine in this field that I would not buy again! So just try a couple and see. PS - sometimes the mags do special offers on past issues so you can get them at really cheap prices by mail order. I got a whole batch of cut-price back issues of one magazine for xmas and though a couple of years old I have got a lot out of them!!!

I don't think you could choose one over the other as there articles are different each month and some give away free software and others don't, I only buy 2 each month and pick the ones of most interest to my research. Steve

Hi there, could someone please let me know what the best genealogy mag is to buy and why regards Lynn