It arrived on Monday–two days later than the cover date, but that happens sometimes.
It’s sitting in the special throne room plexiglass stand used to hold magazines being read in the throne room.
For the last year, it’s been the only magazine there–because it takes more than a week of throne room visits to get through an issue.
I never actually paid for The Economist; it was a Magazines-for-Miles deal using airline miles from one of several airlines I never plan to use again. Even at the absurd $0.02/mile exchange rate (which most people now think grossly exaggerates the worth of airline miles), the “price” was nowhere near $160, the one-year subscription price; I think it was around $60.
I’m one of those readers: I read most magazines cover to cover, and we subscribe to a lot of magazines. (Including ones that come with various other arrangements–e.g., VIA, On Investing, AARP The Magazine, Nature Conservancy, World Wildlife, and now the new ACLU magazine–it’s something over two dozen.)
So next week I’ll go back to having a mix of magazines in the throne room stand–Fast Company (well suited to the location), some of the infrequent “comes because you do something” magazines, maybe Fortune if I’m ahead on other things.
I decided not to renew some months ago–quite apart from the $160/year, which is more than we spend on any four magazines, much less one.
A few of the reasons why:
What I Won’t Miss
The strained British/slang/invented language the “newspaper” uses.
The feeling that the only difference between “leaders” (editorials) and other articles is that the leaders are explicitly slanted.
The constant slagging of the U.S. and especially Obama.
Added 7/11: I especially won’t miss the frequent admonitions for the U.S. to get into another shooting war.
The special definition of “liberal” used when business or markets are involved.
The sheer volume of it all.
What I Will Miss A Little
Being better informed (to the extent that you can filter out the slant) about a range of nations and economic issues.
Some of the special sections.
I might say “The World in 2014”–but I never received that special issue, and by the time I realized I should have received it, it was far too late.
What I Will Miss The Most
I’ll miss this enough that I’ll probably start extending my library visits so I can catch up with recent issues (I’m assuming they keep at least four back; if not, I’ll have to start going more often).
The final page, especially when there’s no obvious candidate for the obituary of the week.
I find the final page superb. I plan to keep reading it.
[By the way, in case any silly person thinks the only reason I’m dropping The Economist is the price and thinking of giving it to me: Please don’t. Contribute a third of the cost, or a little less, say $50, to Cites & Insights.]
In some ways, I’ve liked having a weekly magazine. Time is such a shadow of its former self that I’d find it sad to take (I read it for years, back when there was some substance to it). I might look at The Week or, less probably, Bloomberg BusinessWeek. Most likely, I’ll get used to not having a weekly–after all, I do still read the daily, even if via Kindle Fire 8.9.
