The Greatest Magazine in The English Language

One of the pleasures of living in the USA is the chance to get the New Yorker at a ridiculously cheap price. True, I am living in San Francisco, pretty much the city most diametrically opposite to New York, both in geography and in culture, but there does not exist a magazine to rival the New Yorker. Here, there is the very lame San Francisco magazine. The San Francisco magazine is aimed at the the gap-dressed, yuppie upper middle class, with stories about best places to eat in the Marina [please insert your very own favorite waterfront upwardly-mobile tourist neighbourhood], and fashion tips for golf. Blah.

I don't how they make money, but if you order The New Yorker by subscription, you can save half the cover price, making it a ridiculously low $28 a year.

What makes the New Yorker great? The New Yorker gets that balance just right, between whimsical funny pieces, theatre and movie reviews, superbly written non-fiction articles of a decent length, poetry, and always a meaty piece of fiction. Especially since they changed editors a couple of years ago, who decided to focus more on current affairs. There are more serious magazines out there, but it is tiresome to read, week-in, week-out, their po-faced political analyses. I was reading my New Yorker the other day at work, strolling nonchantly down the hall when a collegue trundles over and asks to borrow my copy of the New Yorker. I say, "sure, great article today". "Oh, that's all right, I only read it for the comics"