New Issues in the Newsstand

Some notes on publications that have sent new issues to the newsstand in recent days…

The March/April issue of Psychology Today features a cover story on happiness, a goal sought by all but achieved by few. Author Kathleen McGowan suggests that a simple search for pleasure doesn't usually result in happiness; a more rewarding path to happiness is to embrace adversity and overcome it. She writes that evidence supporting this thesis has been coming out of "the new science of post traumatic growth." Speaking of trauma, this issue also spends a little time in gambling halls, as Dr. Nando Pelusi wonders whether our caveman ancestors' reliance on risk-taking for survival has led to modern man's penchant for bucking the odds with lottery tickets and slot machines. Dr. Pelusi points out that when the caveman took a risk, at least he probably learned something from the outcome. Can a gambler say the same thing?

The April issue of Vegetarian Times has collected 25 "light recipes," each one under 300 calories. Several involve lasagna: asparagus-pesto lasagna, polenta lasagna with creamy mushroom sauce, butternut squash lasagna and herbed tofu lasagna with zucchini. Writer Shelley Levitt claims in another article that Americans throw out an astounding 25% of the produce they buy because it's gone bad. She offers a number of suggestions to improve the survival rate of your greens and other vegetables, including using some new-fangled storage containers in the refrigerator, buying your veggies last when you're shopping, and putting a cooler in your car to keep them from aging on the way home from the store.

Ocean Navigator is a pleasure for armchair travelers and a must for anyone who owns a serious boat. It's about marine navigator and ocean voyaging. The May/June issue features a fascinating first-person story about a voyage from Long Island to St. Maarten in the West Indies on a Swan 48 in which absolutely everything went wrong: a water leak wiped out the vessel's electronics, the trade winds disappeared and the fuel tanks ran dry. Other articles in the issue are about night vision systems, coating technologies and fire-fighting systems. You'll also find an engaging account of a transatlantic voyage on the five-masted Royal Clipper, the world's largest sailing vessel. By the way, until supplies run out, when you order a sample copy of Ocean Navigator from MagSampler.com you'll also receive a copy of the 2006 Ocean Voyager, the annual handbook of offshore sailing from the magazine's publisher.

We've received the April/May issue of Beckett Baseball Card Plus, a thick (264-page) compendium of baseball card prices. For the heck of it, I looked up some prices on 1953 Topps cards, just the ones that I spent my parochial school recess times flipping into barred ground-floor windows with the other kids (the one with a "leaner" against the glass itself was the clear winner and picked up all the cards). Here are a sample: Johnny Podres: $175-$300; Mickey Mantle: $2500-$3500; Ted Kluzewski: $200-$350. I must have been carrying around $25,000 in 2006 dollars in my ragged corduroy pockets in those days! The cover is a nice tribute to Kirby Puckett, the Minnesota Twins great who died earlier this year.

Publisher Christianity Today International has changed the name of Campus Life to Campus Life's Ignite Your Faith. As you may have surmised, this Christian publication is aimed at college students. We've received the March-April issue, designated as "the music issue." A highlight is the announcement of the Golden Ear Awards for the best Christian music of 2005. The winners include best band Hawk Nelson, best male vocalist Jason Dunn of Hawk Nelson, and best female vocalist Alyssa Barlow of BarlowGirl. In the centerfold the magazine lists Christian bands as alternatives to the secular kind. Scanning the hard rock category, I see that the editors suggest Flyleaf as an alternative to Evanescence, Kittie, Auf der Maur and Garbage, and describe the music of Flyleaf as "female-led rock with touches of Goth, metal, and growling that points to Christ as the answer to struggles with anger, self-hatred and regret."

Sample copies of any of these titles are available from us for $2.59 each.