All You Need to Know, in One Small Magazine

Do you want to get a quick synopsis of the current events, gossip, happenings in Hollywood, important world events, book releases, etc., in one magazine? If so, then you should consider a subscription to The Week, a weekly publication that’s issued 48 times per year. This magazine is relatively new to the American scene, having originally been published in England just five years ago. Its goal is to summarize the most important news of the week into one scaled- down magazine.

Contents of This Magazine:

The Week includes many different featured summaries in every issue. Here’s a list of the main areas covered in this magazine:

News- More than just a domestic or world news source, this section covers celebrity facts; best columns of the week (U.S., Europe, and International); health; pick of the week in cartoons; and others.

Science & Technology- This is a brief summary of anything important in space exploration, natural science, technological breakthroughs, and the like.

Arts- Book reviews, movie picks, theatre, and music are all covered in this section of The Week.

Best Properties on the Market- This is a weekly feature that shows some showcase properties around the U.S (usually high priced) along with one “steal of the week”- a nice or unusual property with a reasonable price tag, usually less than $500,000

Leisure- Here you will find information relating to food and drink, travel, and consumer goods. There is always a recipe of the week, along with some facts on some quality, medium to low priced wines.

Business- Making money, companies in the news, and a “Best Column” about a political issue make up this part of The Week.

The Last Word- This is a final column about any subject that readers might enjoy. The subject can be most anything, from a technological advance in medicine to a corn festival in Iowa.

Television- The final page of each issue, this covers anything worth watching for the week ahead.

Price/Subscription Cost:

The Week carries a cover price of $3.00. The basic subscription price is $1.00 per issue. If you go on- line to make a purchase, you can reduce the cost even further. I have seen it for as little as 75 cents per issue.

Final Thoughts:

The Week is an interesting publication among magazines! It likes to boast on the cover that it contains “All you need to know about everything that Matters”. This magazine doesn’t have a huge staff of writers like most magazines. Instead. The Week is a compilation of the best articles, columns, critical reviews, etc., from many different publications. I have read articles in The Week from such noteworthy publications as Financial Times, Business Week, The Chicago Tribune, Fortune, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and many more. The goal of the editors of The Week is to sift through hundreds of thousands of articles each week and look for the cream of the crop in journalistic inspiration. These best articles are then compiled together into one short magazine.

What I like most about The Week is that it contains short, concise articles that get right to the point. It’s rare to find any reading material in this magazine more than 1 page in length. In fact, most of the reading material is nothing more than short, 2 or 3 paragraph snips from other publications. While the articles don’t go in- depth, they are short and simple and that makes them less intimidating to start reading. You feel more at ease to read with this magazine because you can turn directly to an area of interest and pick an article with the knowledge that you will be finished reading it in less than one minute. With other magazines, the length of some articles is often so great that readers will just skim through quickly, due to limited spare time.

Another thing I like is that this magazine is basically unbiased. Anything that is significant in the news, politics, arts, etc., has a chance to get printed. That includes articles that are conservative, liberal, and everything in between. The editors of The Week are not concerned about what angle a story takes. They just strive to print articles that are among the best of the week, regardless of what political bias is shown.

The Week is a short magazine, averaging only about 40 pages in length. There are very few advertisements in this magazine, which is also nice. In a typical issue, only about 6 pages are covered with ads, which equals only about 15 percent of the total pages. Of course, since the magazine consists of articles from other sources, some might say that it’s really just one large advertisement. But it’s still nice to have good, quality reading without so many of the ads.

Overall, The Week has made me a satisfied subscriber. It’s a good way to stay abreast of the latest happenings, trends, and news on a worldwide basis. The articles are short, fun, simple, and direct with splashes of humor throughout. I recommend The Week to just about anyone. It’s one of the few magazines that’s short enough and entertaining enough that I can read a full issue completely, while still looking forward to the next week’s edition to arrive in my mailbox. Give it a try the next time you see a copy, or visit the magazine’s web site, theweekmagazine.com. It’s a fun and informative read!