Product Description

Outside covers the exciting, active lifestyle of today's man.˜ Each month readers share the adventure, with travel reporting and advice available nowhere else, inspiring profiles, breathtaking photography, epic news from the frontiers of exploration and risk, rock-solid advice on gear, health and fitness and an addictive quotient of daring and mind-blowing surprises.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #94 in Magazine Subscriptions
• Formats: Magazine Subscription, Print

Amazon.com Review

Who Reads Outside Magazine?
Outside readers are passionately committed to leading an active lifestyle. Outside not only motivates readers to uncover and define their own personal day-to-day adventures, but also provides them with the tools, products and information to fulfill them.

What You Can Expect in Each Issue:

• Dispatches: The latest news and events in the world outside
• Media: This month in books, film, TV, and video
• Destinations: The hottest places around the world for active travel
• The Guide: Our exhaustive A-to-Z compendium on a variety of subjects that matter to our readers
• Bodywork: Fitness for the Outside athlete
• The Essentials: The latest gear, equipment, apparel, and electronics
• Exposure: World-class photography from all across the globe
• Feature Articles: Outside’s focus is on the highest-quality journalism on sports, adventure, political and environmental topics, health and fitness, and much more, with a strong dose of consumer service in every issue. Three recent issues contained feature articles on mountaineer and humanitarian Greg Mortenson, an A-to-Z description of an unprecedented El Capitan climb, a report on conservation in Brazil, a tale of murder by pirates off the coast of Mexico, a first-person account of the construction of a dream cabin in Patagonia, a behind-the-scenes look at bike manufacturer Specialized, and packages like the "Outside 100" year-in-review, a guide to nutrition, and a travel feature on 50 great places for getting lost.

Contributors:
The typical Outside contributor is a world-class journalist who bridges the worlds of high-caliber magazine writing and active participation in the outdoors. Our writers are in tune with great stories from every corner of the world, and they bring vigorous, fluid styles, wit, and unflappable reporting skills. Our regulars include Patrick Symmes, Ian Frazier, Hampton Sides, Wells Tower, Steven Rinella, Kevin Fedarko, and Bucky McMahon.


Magazine Layout:
Outside’s design is the visual synthesis of a three-decade tradition of literary journalism built on robust storytelling and inspiring service journalism. The layout and typography reflect and enhance the verve and excellence of the magazine’s reporting and photography.

Past Issues:

Comparisons to Other Magazines:
For 31 years, Outside has set itself apart through its comprehensive, award-winning coverage of travel, sports, adventure, health and fitness, the environment, and the personalities, style, and culture of the world Outside. None of its competitors offers the scale of coverage that it does, or the same level of quality.

Awards:
Outside has won numerous awards for excellence in journalism, photography and design. Chief among its many accolades, Outside is the only magazine to receive three consecutive National Magazine Awards for General Excellence.

Customer Reviews

Outside USED to be good - now its pulp
(I sent the following letter to their customer service last week)

After about 15 years of getting your magazine, I have decided not to renew my subscription. It is a shame that your once great publication has become such a joke.

After receiving your November issue, and spending 10 minutes removing all the inserts and gimmick ads so I could actually read it, I found no substance. Instead there is a fashion section (yikes), a `hot list' with young barely dressed men and women (hey I'm not against a little sex and skin, but I'll subscribe to Vogue or Maxim for that), an article about Larry David's wife that might as well have come from People magazine, an Aussie travelogue that I am convinced their tourist board paid for, all sandwiched in between so many ads for monster SUVs and other crap that you need a compass and a map just to keep up with where the articles worth reading continue from one page to the next.

What happened to the great writers like Krakauer? What happened to having any environmental conscience? Where are the stories of adventure that are real and make you want to go there? Maybe I am just getting older than your current demographic. I haven't lost my sense of adventure, which is why I live in Durango CO and spend a lot of time outdoors. I used to look to your magazine for inspiration. Now I half expect the cover to tout stories on `killer abs'. You've become the Clear Channel of the outdoor magazine world.

Get real again and I may come back.

Inconsistent
Outside Magazine and I have had an up and down relationship for many years. At times, Outside grabs me with great journalism, awesome photos, and fun facts. I've lliked its fearless tackling of environmental issues and its ability to transport me to truly exotic places. At other times, i question its journalistic integrity, emphasis on the latest and greatest gear, and shameless trumpeting of past successes. At times the advice it gives also seems more aimed at insecurities (you need this gear to be successful, you need to live HERE to live a fulfilling life) than I think a magazine focusing on fun in the outdoors should.

Cases in point:

- I'm not sure what criteria it uses for recommending gear but at times I question whether the recommendations come because a certain company is an advertiser or because the editors truly believe that a certain bike, watch, pair of sunglasses are really all that. I don't get the sense that recommendations come as the result of rigorous field testing a la Backpacker Magazine, etc. Also the gear tends to be super expensive. Whatever happened to just enjoying the outdoors via the John Muir approach: just taking off with the clothes on your back and the nearest snack at hand? Because I live in a mountain town I see this ridiculous emphasis on having Just The Right Gear/Clothing for every occasion all the time. It's a little silly.

- Recycling or contradictory fitness advice. Outside did an outstanding series back in 1999 about achieving total fitness but then in subsequent issues redirected its fitness programs under the same type of heading (Achieve your best fitness now!) that made me wonder if they're just running with current fads. I know a magazine has to really work at staying fresh but I think consistency is the best approach here.

- Dudes---John Krakauer wrote a great series and subsequent book about the tragedy on Everest in 1996. But that ship has sailed. If that's the only hook you can hang your hat on the magazine's got problems. We get that your magazine took the lead on that story. Stop reminding us of it.

Outside Information
There is a strange mixture of articles in this magazine. Some are about outdoor activities- though not really about *you* doing them, but stories about someone else. Other articles seem completely general interest that would not be of any more interest to an outdoorsy person than anyone else. There are entertaining travel articles about writers' trips without too much practical information if you were to plan a trip. However, in the back there is a large section of advertisements from all kinds of outdoor adventure places. The photography section is lovely; there are a couple of pages of just artistic photos. For an active outdoor magazine, it seems a little too passive.