Ask HN: What are some of your favorite journals or magazines?

The economist is okay if you are conservative liberal with strong bias towards the "west". Russia and China are _wrong_ by default, every _war_ (Syria, Ukraine, Libya, Afghanistan, Iran... all of them failed campaigns by public standards, Afghanistan not failed(?) by US standards - Afghanistan is about global heroin control btw) is justifiable and actively supported, Banks ought to be _protected_ any social-welfare policy (before covid, in the covid era the tune has changed considerably) is brought to us by "populist devilish politicians" while every bank-saving, pro-market scheme which leaves large % of the population jobless is "made-in-heaven".

The economist like reading an old British grandmother supporting financial schemes and policies which failed more time than I can count, again and again.

By the way before 2010 the articles were better argued and these differences were not so blatant. I believe the quality has decreased considerably. Then again, these are polarized times...

There's also the good parts. The obituary, the "Charlemagne" part is often somewhat relevant.

Examples of double-standards are Brexit vs France "yello vests" movement. The British should by all means do another referendum or the politicians should mimic the 2015 Greek PM and revert the result the of the referendum because "people don't know". The French voters should stay put and accept "the result of the democratic procedures" which brought Macron to power. So... Which one is it then? Respect democracy or overturn it? ;-)

When I was a subscriber I was getting informed for various matters all over the world, so if it's the economist vs nothing, I would prefer the economist. If it's the economist vs something else, well... I don't know.

Why not the Spectator? I've been a subscriber for 10 years. It's a great way to expose yourself to different views, and Rory Sutherland's columns are always worth reading.

Nice!

Do you want a totally different perspective on modern life that is well-written and will force you out of normal patterns of thinking?

Read old magazines. Not early Wired old. 1800s/early to mid 1900s old. Very old. The Spectator...of Addison and Steele. Life magazine, but not that upstart that started in the 1930s, but the original humor magazine.

A short list

Early Fortune magazines (1930s-1950s) to get a sense of the evolution of modern business and technology. Wonderful graphics.

The first hundred years of Harpers...up to, say, 1970. McClures. Saturday Evening Post. Scribners. Colliers. The Nation preWWII.

Early Scientific Americans. Read the 75th anniversary issue talking about all the early tech wonders that led to its 75th anniversary...celebrated in 1920. The issues of the 1870s have wonderful illustrations of intricate machinery.

Judge magazine and the first Life Magazine...both humor magazines about the foibles of lived modern life in the early 20th Century.

Niles Weekly Register, published 1810-1840. Learn how early US cities grew up...the bones of many Eastern cities formed during this period.

Early Popular Science and Popular Mechanics from 1920s-1950s.

Early enthusiast radio magazines from the 1910s to 1950s...the Internet of its time.

Everyday Engineering and Everyday Mechanics magazines of the late 1910s. A boy’s magazine focusing on simple projects teenagers could build on their own: movie cameras, radio telephones, small gasoline engines starting from raw iron and doing your own castings, wireless controlled torpedoes...

The illustrator art on the front covers of some of these are worth the price of admission alone. You can pick up vintage issues for anywhere from $7.00 to $50.00...mostly $15-$20.

Binge-reading ten or so issues of magazines of a given decade, say 1930s, is a psychedelic experience. You lift your eyes and your head is still in the 1930s. And you start asking interesting questions...

I've been interested in this, but it's a steep price to pay without a preview of their work - I'm a college student so funds are tight.