Being of an age before the internet, we read books and magazines. I read a lot of Tom Swift books as a youth. Had a pretty extensive collection. As it turns out, they got tossed when my folks moved years ago. Anybody still have theirs ? Are they collectible ?
Got a few, mostly I got Hardy Boys books. Got all of those up until I stopped reading them. I was a book nerd who loved cars, hot rods, and sucked at sports, but read everything I could find, including the cereal boxes at breakfast. Used to check out as many books as I could carry from the public library, up until about age 13 or so.
Yes! I have most of that series, starting with Tom Swift and his Flying Lab. I guess the Hardy Boys weren't geeky enough for me. On a good day, Half Price Books pays about 50 cents per.
My great grandmother had a whole bunch of the originally issued Tom Swift books and I started reading them as soon as I could read.
I went to a parochial grammar school, I think we got a library when I was in third or fourth grade. It was small and all the books were donated from church members basements and attics. Those old Tom Swift books were first edition, smelled musty and the paper was kind of crumbly but the adventures described were cool as hell.