Monday, August 17, 2009
Religion / Books Life in These United States
Posted by Paul Constant on Mon, Aug 17, 2009 at 11:40 AM
- Photo by Lindy West
Back in November, Reader's Digest made a huge deal with religious douchebag Rick Warren to create a magazine/media empire. It was a rare acquisition at the same time that other magazines were shuttering, and some religious bloggers took it as a sign that people were hungry for religion in a recession. Oops.
If you can't get enough pontification about a magazine that has thrived for over a half-century by hacking books into accessibility, I reviewed Reader's Digest back in November in the book section.
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1
Oh Reader's Digest. It was the only magazine my grandparents subscribed to, so when I went to visit them, I spend a lot of time reading my way through their backlog. My grandmother -- bless her heart -- thought that I liked the magazine and bought me a birthday subscription for at least decade.
I had a serious love/hate relationship with that magazine over the years. On one hand, it was perfectly comprehensible to a 12-year-old, and I enjoyed features like "The New Bad Thing That Kids Are Doing RIGHT NOW!" and "The Horrible Disease YOU Could Already Have." But even as a kid I hated the preachiness and thought the lurid-tales-for-conservative-audiences model was a little hypocritical. Still, I'm surprised they're going out of business. I thought their business model was the cockroach of publishing.
I had a serious love/hate relationship with that magazine over the years. On one hand, it was perfectly comprehensible to a 12-year-old, and I enjoyed features like "The New Bad Thing That Kids Are Doing RIGHT NOW!" and "The Horrible Disease YOU Could Already Have." But even as a kid I hated the preachiness and thought the lurid-tales-for-conservative-audiences model was a little hypocritical. Still, I'm surprised they're going out of business. I thought their business model was the cockroach of publishing.
2
readers digest was terrifying...it was really a tabloid in family friendly form.
and, it's well over half a century old...87 to be precise.
and, it's well over half a century old...87 to be precise.
3
Yes, Michael, and that's probably the average age of their readership, too. It's no surprise they can't cut it anymore.
4
Ditto @1 on childhood experience. Still, the Wallace Foundation (established by RD founders DeWitt Wallace and Lila Acheson Wallace) has benefited me directly twice in my life through support of scientific research. So thanks to them and all those fearful right-wing grandmothers out there in decades past.
5
@1's experience is similar to my own. I never got the gift sub, but I knew people who did, for the same reason. I loved that magazine when I was ten, and though it is obviously shit I will give it credit for a large part of my vocabulary. Lawrence Welk is dead, too.
7
and by discussing the advanced age/mortality of Mr Linkletter and Mr Miller, we've now doomed them...
8
I also loved Reader's Digest as a kid -- I think my grandparents actually gave my parents a subscription and I read every issue for a number of years. I still remember the "OMG Brown Recluse Spiders!" article they did... I think it may have contributed to the irrational fear of spiders I have as an adult.
9
A couple of interesting current Wallace Foundation tidbits:
$7.7 million in grants to Seattle arts groups and the Washington State Arts Commission:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/th…
Obama education policy transition team leader joins Wallace board:
http://www.wallacefoundation.org/NewsRoo…
$7.7 million in grants to Seattle arts groups and the Washington State Arts Commission:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/th…
Obama education policy transition team leader joins Wallace board:
http://www.wallacefoundation.org/NewsRoo…
10
I was also raised on Reader's Digest, my dad and grandparents. It did help gain a love of reading, and a distaste for condensed books.
12
As a child I was keen to read 'It Helps to Increase Your Word Power' in doctors' offices: so much more restful on the psyche than Uncle Arthur's Bible Stories.
13
Add me to the list of people who loved RD as a kid. My mom got me a subscription to it as an adult and it just didn't interest me in the same way.
I always always always read the DRAMA IN REAL LIFE story first.
I always always always read the DRAMA IN REAL LIFE story first.
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