H. Allen Orr, who is so distressed about the incivility of those he calls “professional atheists,” has finally found a book about evolution and religion that he likes. One suspects that the fact that, as far as one can tell from his review, the book presents not one new or original thought about either religion or evolution may actually be the wellspring of his enthusiasm. It’s hard to see why it was reviewed in the NYRB at all, since the same ground has been thoroughly plowed about six times in the past year.
Certainly the editors don’t seem to have taken much interest in it — otherwise why would they have let a solecism like “slipped between the cracks” slip through, well, the cracks?? “Slipped between the cracks” — I ask you!
Overall, this was a very disappointing issue of the NYRB. Every review I’ve read in it (I never read them all, I confess) seemed to serve up a dish of warmed-over old news. Newspapers are losing money, religion and science are in conflict, technology has brought increases in productivity at the expense of worker satisfaction — tell me something I don’t know. Or at least tell me something I haven’t known for 10 years. Oh, and by the way, if I had wanted to know anything about the Sopranos, I would have watched the series, not subscribed to a review of books.
It’s the same for me with all periodicals. For the first year, I’m enthralled. A few issues later I begin to feel like I’ve read the same article six times in the last twelve months. Eventually I unsubscribe, thinking, “This magazine isn’t what it used to be,” (though often that’s the problem, it’s exactly what it used to be).
I see my future, and the NYRB isn’t in it. Reform, NYRB! Reform, before you end up on the Island of Misfit Magazines, alongside the Atlantic Monthly and Discover and the New York Times Book Review!
Oh the NYRB is one of the most boring publications on earth. Occasionally it serves up something interesting but most of the time it’s another article about evil George Bush, something about a past Presidential American President, one or two fiction reviews of the latest sensation and some other forgettable bits.
Read the Times Literary Supplement my dear you won’t regret. Such a wide, wide range of reviews every week addressing everything (even if it’s rather Eurocentric). The London Review of Books is much more political but there reviews of history books actually address regions and continents beyond Europe and USA.
Don’t blame yourself - I can’t imagine a set of circumstances that would cause me to read the NYRB cover-t0-cover.
Your criticism of the magazine world is probably well-founded. I’m cranking up my freelance career, and most magazines are looking to repeat whatever success they’ve had - they’re terrified to try something “outside the box”. That’s why I try to dabble between disciplines instead of just writing sports, or just writing about music or travel. It’s the only way to keep it interesting.
Have you read MAKE or CRAFT? Check out makezine.com and craftzine.com. Tell me you don’t want to knit that hat on the homepage! I have the latest issue of each, thanks to my brother.
Cute hat! I’ve heard of MAKE, hadn’t heard of CRAFT. Good to see young people busy doing something with their hands.