Mental Floss

In an age of books "for dummies" and "complete idiots," Mental Floss is a magazine that makes you "feel smart again." Let's face it, some of those "dummies" books are pretty good, but you wouldn't display them in your home or read them on the train. By contrast, I openly read Mental Floss in public and place the latest issue on my coffee table.

The magazine combines a cheeky sense of humor with a wealth of information. I loved the recent "Y Files issue." "Why is yawning contagious?" "Why do people yell `Geronimo' before jumping?" "Why does the United States print $2 bills?" Mental Floss delivers the answers. Trivial pursuit may leave you wondering "why" about an answer, but Mental Floss never does.

The current "swimsuit issue" is a blast. It's not exactly titillating, but it is stimulating. The sight of Einstein and Eleanor Roosevelt in swimwear is enough to turn your attention to the articles.

There's no magazine I'd recommend more highly.

I have subscribed to "Mental Floss" from the very beginning, and now look forward to each new issue anxiously. Founded just a couple of years ago by two former college roommates who wanted a fun, hip, urbane magazine to make them smarter with style, "Mental Floss" has become a huge success, and is one of the few new magazines that debut each year that is actually prospering.

Each issue is loaded with information on interesting topics, from how common (or very uncommon) things work, to odd and unknown histories and biographies that you will not find anywhere else (and if you did, certainly not in as condensed and succinct a form as you will find here.) Without exception, the writers are literate, knowledgeable, and good humored.

The things that you don't know will amaze you after reading this magazine. Try "Mental Floss", and I am willing to bet that you will be hooked. I know I am.

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There are magazines you read for specific how-to texts, like how to fix your kitchen sink. There are magazines you read to stay up to date with the latest news in the world, your field, or a given region. Then there are magazines like Mental_Floss, which is more like a "News of the Weird" magazine version release. These aren't brain puzzles to improve your memory a la Brain Age. They aren't research pieces that will test or challenge your mental ability. Instead, they are quirky factoids.

What is yelling "Geronimo" all about? Just what is a "Vegemite Sandwich"? There are all sorts of odd things covered here. Sometimes they touch on science, world politics or human relations but often they're related to pop culture, the things you hear every day and never really thought about.

It's intriguing that how you react to this magazine is probably based a lot on what you have read until now. If what you've been reading has been mainstream newspapers aimed at the "lowest common denominator", or the Dummies series of books, you'll be greatly refreshed by this! This magazine doesn't assume you're a dummy with a dead brain. It assumes you want to learn, to grow, to find out the "why" behind the things in your world. It's aimed for people who pop onto Wikipedia when they hear about a new, interesting item on the news ... or people who jump onto IMDB to see what else an actor was in when they watch a movie. It's for people who are intrigued by those connections and backgrounds.

On the other hand, Mental_Floss generally provides a surface read. It's the perfect bathroom magazine but for those who already get mentally challenging magazines, they might be let down by a magazine that is explicitly named Mental_Floss. This doesn't provide in depth or rigorous details on anything. If the academic magazines are at college level, Mental_Floss is more like the fun high school underground newsletter that tackles intriguing issues that might otherwise be ignored. Now, before you start to clamor that most newspapers write at a 5th grade level, that is in fact untrue! Here's a factoid for you :) The New York Times writes at a 12th grade level of vocabulary and comprehension, while most other newspapers fall between 9th and 10th grade. The 5th grade stat came from the 1700s and 1800s.

Still, every magazine has its target audience and its purpose in life. Mental_Floss isn't there to provide in depth education. There are other magazines for that. Instead, it gives you great tidbits on things that many people care about things that are *super* to use at cocktail parties, networking events, dinners out with your boss or employees. Instead of getting into a discussion about religion or politics, and perhaps starting the third world war, you can give info on a topic that will intrigue most people there, and often impress them.

Definitely a magazine that just about every age group will enjoy and that is very "useful"! If I have a real issue with this magazine, it's that it only comes out every other month. It'd be great if they could get this onto a monthly schedule, with more intriguing facts to keep us fresh and full of new information.

Read Best Reviews of Mental Floss Here

Let me start off with I subscribe to at least 15 magazines covering a range of subjects. Mental Floss is the only magazine that I save and leave out for guests. The reason I save it is that is a very quick read that can be read while people have a few moments to spare. The articles are short and don't provide much depth. However it is enjoyable to read something that requires no brain power to process. Mental Floss is a great magazine that you can sit down with and read in one sitting. It even occasionaly brings a smile to your face. I suggest you give it a chance but don't expect to much.

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I just recieved my first copy of mental floss and I havent been able to put it down. In one sitting I found out the meaning behind common nursery rhymes, the origins of conflicts in Rwanda and East Timor, and realized the importance of physicists. Mental Floss is different then Time, Newsweek etc. because it puts information and knowlege out there in a way that wont bore you to tears. I can feel my brain expanding everytime I turn the page and feel much more confident in global news and relive prior events, fads, and trends that I soon would have forgotten (rubix cube?). I really am eager to keep getting new editions. Maybe in a few years, I can finally send for my MENSA exam.

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