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Animats
"The New Yorker has always dealt with experience not by trying to understand it but by prescribing the attitude to be adopted toward it. This makes it possible to feel intelligent without thinking."

Yes, that's the New Yorker. It is, indeed, designed to create the feeling of sophistication without requiring effort from the reader. As such, it survives in the era of Twitter. The dry wit of the New Yorker's house style has survived the test of time.

cageface
I have a subscription but hardly ever read it. The overall tone of the magazine is too often annoyingly glib and smug. Far better to spend your subscription dollars on the New York Review of Books, if you're looking for something that will genuinely inform and challenge your intellect.

http://www.nybooks.com

icebraining
I also like the London Review of Books: http://www.lrb.co.uk/
cageface
Agreed. I always find several articles in each issue of the LRB worth reading. If only I had the time to keep up with both journals!
pc86
Do you find NYB worth the price? I'm seeing $69 for 20 online-only issues compared to LRB's $49.95 for 24 issues. Just curious what makes NYB worth the 65% higher price.

LRB - $49.95 for 24 issues = $2.09/issue

NYB - $69.00 for 20 issues = $3.45/issue

EDIT: After closer review it seems NYB is simply larger/has more content. That difference alone comes close to justifying the price differential.

cageface
The New York Review is more expensive per issue but it's really in a class by itself when it comes to the quality of content. It's intelligent, informed, and incisive without being academic or pedantic. I pray they never go out of print.
ninjabeans
Am I missing something or is that a disparaging statement?
trowawee
It's a sneering remark, directed at a magazine that remains successful and frequently interesting, that was published in a magazine that most have forgotten and written by an author that most have forgotten.
pnathan
The New Yorker is, in my opinion, one of the better magazines running. They are somewhat overly oriented towards NYC, and have some issues with sneering at more rural areas of the country, but what do you expect with a title of The New Yorker? The articles are usually intelligent and cover a wide range of topics.