Reader's Digest; A Magazine for the Whole Family

Reader's Digest is, for me at least the comfort food of magazines. It's the magazine I grew up with and that's always good to go back and read. Imagine my delight when I found out my boss subscribed to the magazine. Imagine my tears when I saw he got the Polish edition. Ah well! I'm getting my own copies again in English now.

When I was a child, I only read the humor columns. As I grew older, I read more and more. Finally, I was reading it from cover to cover. I love it.

Reader's Digest is made up of articles reprinted from magazines and books, and various original material. Even if I had time and money to read all these articles and books, not all of them really interest me. However, there are occasional articles even in the most unlikely sources that I enjoy. Reader's Digest does the work of finding them for me.

Whether the material is reprinted or original, it tends towards the uplifting or useful. In the September 2001 edition, for example, you can find an article from Wired Magazine on a great roller coaster, one from Business Week on improving schools, and an original article about a woman who took on the neo-Nazis that ruled her small town, and won. The cover article was an interview with Tom Hanks about his interest in World War II. Most of these articles run only a few pages.

Along with the articles, each magazine contains a "Digest Version" of a book, or a special longer feature. In the September 2001 was a special feature about How Hospitals are Gambling with Your Life. It deals specifically with the nursing shortage. The special features seem to be coming around more often than the books lately. I can't say I'm sorry as I usually find the special articles more interesting.

Along with the articles, the other attraction to Reader's Digest is its regular features. "All in a Day's Work", "Laughter, the Best Medicine", "Humor in Uniform," "Campus Comedy," and "Life in these United States" are all humor columns with different types of short stories. For example, "All in a Day's Work" includes stories of funny things that happen in a general workplace. "Laughter, the Best Medicine" is just a series of funny, though not true, stories. Then there is a column entitled "News from the World of Medicine" which focusses on recent breakthroughs and advances. Long before the internet provided updates on the latest in medicine, the Reader's Digest was doing it. "Personal Glimpses" tells us good things about how famous people work at their everyday troubles - the same troubles we all share. "Heroes for Today," on the other hand, tells about ordinary people who have done extraordinary things. My favorite regular features, however, are "Quotable Quotes" and "It Pays to Enrich Your Word Power." The quotes column are short samples of things people have said. Some are funny. Some are moving. Some are from the distant past, and some are quite recent. The "Word Power" column is a vocabulary test with 20 words. There are 4 definitions for each entry and its up to you to choose the right one.

Along with all of this, Reader's Digest has lots of fillers - jokes and stories following articles. Nearly all advertisements here are full page, so if an article runs short, the rest of the page is given over to fillers. There are days when I first go through and read all the fillers before I ever look at anything else. As a child, these were the only things I read.

Reader's Digest is a great magazine. It fits nicely in purse or backpack for when you need something to read. The articles make you feel happier, and smarter. It lifts ytou up and it and makes you feel good. This is a magazine that the whole family can enjoy. What better recommendation can I give for a magazine?