Cut back your unread magazines by subscribing to The Week instead

I don't know about you, but our household used to suffer from magazine overload. Despite our best intentions to read all of those subscriptions that seemed like such a bargain, most of the time they'd just stack up in a box until the news and information they contained were completely outdated. Then it was time for a trip to donation bin to get rid of them--with much associated guilt. But then, we picked up a subscription to The Week, and now we're on top of news and events instead of just intending to be.

The Basics
The Week is a digest-style news magazine that bills itself as "the best of the U.S. and international media," covering domestic and international news, offbeat and human interest stories, celebrity gossip, editorials, and reviews of books, theater, art, music, film, and television. Health, science, consumer, business, food, and travel news are also covered. Material is drawn from dozens of sources and often several perspectives are presented on a given subject.

Of course, being a digest of other news sources, you can expect The Week to be extremely broad in scope but limited to between a paragraph and a couple of pages in depth. As someone who generally gets his news via the radio or TV, I don't see the same lack of depth as a major problem. It's certainly enough coverage to give you something to talk about around the proverbial water cooler or around the dining room table. Plus, I think there's something to be said about having a broad awareness of what's going on in the nation and the world.

Stylistically, The Week's page layout is comparable to Time magazine's: same footprint, glossy paper, normal-sized typestyle, abundant color photos, effective use of colored headlines and call-out boxes, and a pleasing amount of white space. Although quite a bit of information is contained on each page, you never feel intimidated by the layout, and you can easily find where you left off if you have to set the magazine down. At under 50 pages, it's something you can go through in about an hour, perfect for a doctor's waiting room or for reading while on the bus or train.

Although a bit on the "intellectual" side (especially the art and living reviews), the writing is easy to read and to understand without needing a college degree. The biggest complaints I have are that the editors extensively paraphrase source material and that sources are not specifically cited but rather attributed generally ("...said Newsday in an editorial" -- what page? which issue? arrrgh!). It's enough to give an English teacher a heart attack. Still, considering this is the Reader's Digest equivalent of a news magazine, even the most scholarly among us can get past those annoyances.

At $2.95 an issue on the newsstand, it's comparable to most news magazines, even if it is much slimmer than the Times and Newsweeks of the world. However, the best value is with a yearly (48 issue) subscription at around $39 (the listed rate is $75, but you can find subscriptions under $40 if you shop around).

What I Like About The Week
My favorite feature in The Week is Briefing, a one-page backgrounder on a topic of interest, usually one that Americans are not familiar with. In a very "question and answer" format, The Week deconstructs complex topics in an easy-to-understand manner. It's the "How Things Work" equivalent for international events and politics--I look forward to it every week.

Other gems: The world at a glance... offers news capsules from around the world, and is great for students and the geographically challenged thanks to a highlighted world map to help differentiate Laos from Lagos from Latvia. Pick of the week's cartoons offers 1-2 pages of funny and often biting editorial cartoons, including those drawn by one of my favorites, the Washington Post's Tom Toles. Best properties on the market features a few unique homes from around the country (all of which I can't afford, but it's entertaining nonetheless). A sidebar called Steal of the week features one house that's considered a bargain. The last word is a fascinating two-page feature that adapts book excerpts or longer articles from popular magazines. They leave you with a feeling of sadness, inspiration, or wonder--when was the last time a news magazine left you with such a strong feeling in its closing pages?

Why You Should Consider Buying The Week
My wife and I both read The Week, and find that it's a great alternative to several magazine and local newspaper subscriptions that inevitably never get read. If you're looking for a way to stay on top of current world events (often it reports on events that literally just happened) with a minimal investment of time and money, The Week is a must-have. Now, not only do we not have boxes of magazines to recycle, but we can pass along the magazines to our friends and co-workers after we're done reading them from cover-to-cover. That, I think, is the best endorsement a magazine can get--that it gets read!