SEVERAL TIMES A YEAR, I reserve an entire day to peruse the stock of a large magazine store. I snoop into everything from Modern Hair Styles to Supermarket Manager’s Monthly, Battles of World War II, CB, Kung-fu, Jack & Jill, People, Motor Trend, Four Wheel Drive, Orchid Raising, Consumer Reports, Playboy and Playgirl, Woman’s Day, Art News, Modern Camera, Ski, Vogue Patterns, Field & Stream, Dogs, Cats, Horses . . . egad! Snoop-reading gives me a cross-section of what is going on in this vast country. Perhaps
it’s a bizarre idea, but I have found over the years that the habit really does seem to reveal trends. I usually make peace with the magazine store by buying one now and then as the day progresses. I am limited, finally, by curvature of the spine, clatter from the