What are you reading in April 2017?

Today I read the September 1909 edition of the magazine Edison Phonograph Monthly. Interesting that the economic crisis that begun in 1907 was still being mentioned by that point (most online sources say the U.S. economy recovered quickly, yet the issues of this magazine suggest otherwise).

This was a magazine issued by record label and record player maker Edison, and was read by their dealers and jobbers. It was intended to encourage them to push the goods to the public. Also in this issue is a brief biography of John Philip Sousa (who had just joined the label).

People think that aggressive and pushy advertising began in the 1950s. Wrong. Reading this 1909 magazine, and the various advice it gives for advertising the records and record players, it becomes obvious that pushy, aggressive, and even sneaky advertising was around long before the 1950s....

I just read the short story Getting the Upper Hand, published 1890 in a college magazine, and written by Wilmot Brookings Mitchell. It appears as part of the 1907 compilation Under the Bowdoin Pines.

This is something you don't see anymore these days: a short fiction story that isn't sci-fi/horror.

The story concerns a college student who invites his stepmother to the Class Day. However, he gets upset when his stepmother replies and notes the clothes she plans to wear, which are rather shabby.

EDIT:
I read a few pages today of "The Pocket Camera Handbook" (1980, Michael Langford), which despite the name also includes a lot of info relevant to 35mm film cameras (which I'd hardly consider to be pocket cameras).

I also read two pages of the book "Shuttle Challenger" (1987, David Shayler). The two pages were rather too technical for my taste (and they are fairly big pages)