3 Quality Blogs You Should Read

One thing about the Web,  you can always find something to read — but unfortunately the quality isn’t always there. Well, here are three quality, enjoyable blogs from different genres. Each publishes at a different frequency, but all offer something of value when they publish.

Useful Historian

As a history enthusiast — I love the blog title — it’s very clever, but more importantly it is indicative of the entries which are well-thought out, helpful and informative. One of my favorite entries is the one about the WWI Museum in Kansas City, Missouri.

I visit historical museums and historical places of interest whenever I travel, but when researching those places, finding quality first-hand, authoritative information can be a challenge. I obviously read  the website of the place I intend to visit — but that is seldom as valuable as reading a review from from someone in the industry who’s been there — which is why I enjoy reviews from the Useful Historian.

Besides offering first-hand accounts of places to visit, the Useful Historian also writes Book Reviews, Today in History posts and practical information about history preservation.

Life in Every Limb

I enjoy blogs where you feel like you know the writer (although you’ve never met) and that is the case with this one. I was initially pulled in by an entry about a cemetery because as an amateur genealogist I have spent a considerable amount of time in graveyards and I find them interesting, intriguing and peaceful.

In Life in Every Limb, entries about cemeteries go well beyond Find-A-Grave’s somewhat journalistic approach (which I also like), and gives you a feeling of actually taking a walk through the cemetery with the writer. The blogger has a great eye for what is interesting and provides lots of quality photographs.

However, if you are not into genealogy and history-type research, the author — a former columnist for a Catholic paper — also writes about life in general in an engaging and thoughtful way.

The Big Can Do

This is the only blog on the list where I personally know the blogger. Polly, the author, and I worked together more than a decade ago as part of a team putting out a high-quality community newspaper. She covered high school sports while I covered the courts. Although, we both have moved on from the news industry, we have stayed involved in writing.

In The Big Can Do, Polly’s witty observations — highlighted by her excellent photography — center around finding the good that exists in every day events.  The entries I enjoy the most are the ones that pull in her family, extended family or friends — capturing those everyday moments we often take for granted.

Polly caps off her observations with a thought-provoking quote for the day.