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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Can’t read it all? See ‘The Week’

By Kim Harwell DallasNews.com

What it is: Take snippets from some of the country’s best-known magazines, leading world newspapers, scientific journals and, yes, even tabloids. Condense them into succinct story summaries, in many cases giving opposing editorial viewpoints from competing publications. Then compile them into a slim 40-page weekly digest covering politics, business, science, arts and leisure. Voila: The Week is born.

What it’s all about: In spring 2001, Dennis Publishing – better known for its randy men’s magazines Maxim and Stuff – launched the American version of The Week. (A same-named British version has been in existence for almost a decade.) Editor-in-chief William Falk describes the publication as “a briefing for intelligent people who are simply too busy to read everything they’d like.” More immodest claims pepper the front cover, where the magazine’s tagline (“All you need to know about everything that matters”) shares space each issue with a laudatory blurb from any of a number of media movers and shakers, such as Reason magazine editor Nick Gillespie (“The Week has completely redefined the newsmagazine for the 21st century”) or National Public Radio personality Bob Garfield (“I love, love, love this magazine”).

Self-congratulatory? Sure. But The Week manages to be not only informative but also entertaining, thanks to an editorial breakdown that’s roughly half hard news and half arts- and lifestyle-driven content. Regular features include “The World at a Glance,” short looks at top stories from around the globe; “Boring but important” (pretty self-explanatory); and “Briefing,” a one-page Q&A explainer of a current hot-button topic (recent articles have focused on the precarious state of the airline industry, the Hubble Space Telescope and the origins of Santa Claus). On a lighter note are columns devoted to celebrity news and gossip; reviews of books, music, film, art and plays; and the always-enjoyable “It must be true … I read it in the tabloids.”

Why we like it: Even the most dedicated media junkie can’t find the time to give a careful read to everything that rolls off the presses, so it’s nice to know that instead of staying awake until the wee hours blearily studying the New York Times, Le Figaro, Daily Variety and the Journal of Neuroscience, we can get the Cliffs Notes version in just an hour or so with The Week. (Other oft-quoted sources include such disparate publications as the London Times, LA Weekly, Saveur, Road and Track and Travel and Leisure.)

And while The Week’s pithy, paragraph-sized synopses may not really impart “all you need to know about everything,” it makes a handy, wide-ranging supplement for your more traditional doses of the news du jour. Or, in the words of novelist Christopher Buckley, “The Week saves me $10,000 a week in magazine subscriptions.” Hyperbole aside, what’s not to like about that?