How Much Do I Love The Economist?

While I was an international relations student in the early 90s, the saying used to be that if you wanted to be a Foreign Service Officer, you had to read The Economist magazine or the New York Times every week for a year (every single printed word). If you did that, the conventional wisdom went, you were sure to have an FSO business card.

Since the New York Times has fallen on hard times, I suspect students today have dropped it from the list, but I am certain the belief in The Economist still persists.

Anyway, I never became an FSO (the Internet boom intervened), but I did start reading it every week and have never stopped. It is simply the best magazine published today. I could wax on and on about how great it is and why, but I will give one reason here:

The book review section is totally awesome. For example, the review of Alan Greenspan’s new book The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World in the most recent issue (here) is perfect.

Plus, how much do I want to read Weimar Germany: Promise and Tragedy by Eric D. Weitz? A lot. Not because the review (here) is glowing, but because it is a perfect review.