The New Yorker (1-year auto-renewal)

you might get a better deal by calling The New Yorker subsciption office directly: 800-825-2510. My mailed renewal notice price was $89.95/2 years, but they offered me $50/2 years when I called and spoke to a CSR.

I have been subscribing to the New Yorker for five years now, and it has been a very enlightening experience. The New Yorker does its part in covering big news stories, but it's not really a news magazine. The perspectives are unique (and admittedly lean to the left), and the kind you're not likely to get elsewhere. The authors use the first person because they tend to be part of the stories they're covering. Take Jon Lee Anderson, probably the most credible reporter covering the Middle East today. His "Letters From" various cities involve accounts of his meetings with locals and leaders.

Other segments are more like NPR stories--unique perspectives on largely uncovered topics that aren't time-sensitive. You'll get in-depth looks into developments in medicine, law, architecture, etc., that otherwise wouldn't get on your radar unless you were in that profession. And, the writers incorporate the "larger questions" in stories focused on recent events. Like Malcolm Gladwell's recent account of a playwright who plagiarized material from a former article written by him. He parlayed his personal struggle into a good summary of legal and ethical positions on the use or development of one person's idea by another.

I have grown to look forward to reading the Fiction selection each week. Sometimes I don't like the piece, but I enjoy getting the chance to read writers that I normally wouldn't and those that I normally would.

Additionally, the magazine has added more dedicated issues--most recently the "Food" issue, in addition to standbys like the "Style" and "Fiction" issues. I loved the "Food" issue, especially one writer's account of the search for truly authentic pasta that involved a work night in Mario Batali's kitchen and a trip to Italy.

I enjoy the balance of hard news, balanced interest stories, and arts that the New Yorker provides. I began my subscription to get a different perspective than what I got from local Southern news, and I keep it for the same reasons and many more.

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Over 10 years ago, my high school English teacher recommended that all of his students get a subscription to The New Yorker. He often xeroxed the fiction pieces for us to read, and was known for saying, "If you read this magazine cover to cover each week, you'll learn almost everything you need to know about what's going on in the world." Because I thought he was great, I got a subscription, and have never regretted it. For a few years I read only the fiction pieces and the poetry, and gradually moved towards the Talk of the Town, and beyond.

I haven't lived in the New York area since high school, but each week when my New Yorker comes I gleefully pick it up and begin reading. First the poems, then the Talk of the Town, and then... who knows? I am never disappointed.

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Love the magazine. The rating is because of this price. Folks don't be fooled!

Prompted by the poster from 2009, I called customer service at 800-825-2510. Couldn't get a $50 rate but did get $59.99 for two years just by asking what was their best one year rate ($39.99) and then the two year rate.

Thanks for the tip.

Posting this now so folks know it still works.

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I've subscribed to the New Yorker for at least the last 8 years. Like National Geographic, I find it hard to throw away old issues, and I wind up storing them in boxes imagining that I will someday catch up on missed articlesor revisit old favorites. With a new issue arriving weekly, this is will probably never happen, unless, of course, I suspend my subscriptionwhich I would hate to do.

Contrary to its dry and stodgy reputation among those who have never picked up a copy, the New Yorker is eminently engaging and readable. The "New Yorker Style" seems to be one of continuous vivid descriptionbut always to serve the subject. It is like the "NPR: All Things Considered" of print. Indeed, for me, the magazine's ever varied subject matter (no subject is out of bounds for the magazineas long as it can be presented in an interesting fashion) is often beside the point. A typical article gives a such rich sense of persona and place that makes reading on any topicwhether it be an inside look at a noted political figure or the recent turmoil in Zimbabwe or a trip inside the head of a noted film director (stuff that would hardly interest me otherwise)a sensual delight. Put another way, one thing all New Yorker writers seem to have in common is an exceptional gift for prose.

This is not to say that the magazine is all style and no substance. On the contrary, the New Yorker frequently throws a very big hat into the ring of popular discourse on a wide range of topics. Noted New Yorker writers will frequently pop up on talking-heads shows defending their controversial, yet compelling, assertions.

The New Yorker is often in depthwith very little fluff space that, with minimal page real estate eaten up by graphic designer fillarticles often run to great length. On the other hand, those who are in the mood for a bite sized morsel can read the cartoons, arts reviews at the back of the magazine, or, my favorite partthe Talk of the Towna half dozen or so slices-of-life features with range from the oddball to the frightening.

Writers such as Jeffrey Toobin are often amazingly prescient in their early analysis of various rising luminaries on the political and cultural scene. One reason to hold on to old copies of the magazine is have the ability to go back again and see how much of the political behavior of, say, Dick Cheney, had been foretold by his earlier actions.

The New Yorker is also unpretentious. While many articles (and indeed cartoons) assume a bit more in depth cultural and/or pop-cultural knowledge than the unadventurous reader of USA-Today, (or, worse yet, MSN.com) might possess, the writers are not haughty or preachy. Humor abounds, especially in back pages devoted to critics. Though I frequently disagree with film critics Anthony Lane (capricious) and Terrance Rafferty (curmudgeony), their critiques make me laugh out loud. The truly unpretentious nature of the writing of the New Yorker is clearest in the "Shouts and Murmurs" section. Any magazine that prints a lovingly composed work of absolute nonsense by Steve Martin from time to time is worth giving a shot.

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