and it damaged long term memory, otherwise when I read an educational magazine, the knowledge shouldn't disappear in 30 seconds!!

haha true

I dunno.. That's pretty much what happened with me when I was in school. And I haven't even been shot in the head yet.

Magazines don't contain new knowledge or enough information to build long term knowledge on, they're a refresher course, there to get your mind in the right spot.

A forum post can remind me, for example, of just enough physics theory to help with a vector problem, but I cant do it without a little prompting beforehand.

There are two types of Magazines in New Vegas.

One type is a skill magazine and only temporarily raises a skill by 10 points for a set amount of time. The other type is a magazine that raises the Skill permanently, these are much harder to find. The main difference being a difference in the titles of Magazines and their value.

So if you find a magazine with a higher value than regular magazines, chances are that they are going to raise your skill permanently.

*giggle* Lol, poor Courier.

But... Welcome to my world. :'(
My teacher says one thing, and then I reply with, "...Wait, what did you say?"

People DIE from being shot in the head...minor brain damage is INCREDIBLE and very lucky for someone who was !SHOT IN THE HEAD!

WHAT???!!! HOLY [censored] I GOTTA STOP SHOOTING MY FRIENDS IN TEH HEAD!!! WE MIGHT GET SERIOUSLY INJURED I DIDNT KNOW THAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the courier was wearing a bullet pROOF MASK LOL

Very good point!

Back on topic, magazines would only have small articles about specific things whereas a book would be more general with info about the entire topic
Other than that it's just a gameplay mechanic for a way to boost skills temporarily so...

Lol...yeah that'd be a good idea...but, in all honosty i like the current system...think of cramming info before a big test...most of its gone in a few days ( in this case hours)