Product Description

The New York Review of Books has served as a forum for writers and thinkers to discuss not only current books but also the provocative and complex issues of American culture, society, economics, politics, and the arts.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #670 in Magazine Subscriptions
• Format: Magazine Subscription

Amazon.com Review
If all book reviews aspire to the condition of magazines, the New York Review would represent the best realization of this aspiration to date. It retains the character of a book review, published 20 times a year. But since its inception over 30 years ago, the reviews have been long, dense (recent years have brought the practice of footnotes), and learned. Significant fiction is pondered, along with bits of poetry, slices of science, and gobs of political science, history, economics, biography, art, and music. The reader of the New York Review easily feels relieved of the cultural burden of having to read a book once having completed the sufficient burden of having read a thorough review of it. Although the impeccably left-leaning editors would be loathe to agree, only major figures or discourses in the European intellectual tradition need apply to their pages for consideration. Hence, for example, although occasional "pieces" on certain worthy movies now appear, popular culture is not a serious concern. Lately, the Review has given over more of its pages (from 60 to 80 each issue) to journalistic reports--the latest political currents in China or Russia, the state of affairs in Kurdistan or at Camp X-Ray in Guantanamo Bay. Its core identity remains, however, that of a magazine unequaled for addressing intellectual "issues"--Darwin under attack again, pedophilia continuing in the Church, whither globalization--through reviewing them as these issues appear in book form. --Terry Caesar

Customer Reviews

If You Only Read One Periodical This is It
A playground for the mind. Covers a wide range of subjects. Each review is a full essay on the subject of the book. Many reviews compare and contrast several recently published books on the same subject. Learned and sophisticated yet fully accessible. An on-going liberal arts education and the easiest way I know to keep the eclectic learning that a liberal arts education aspires to.

This is one of my favorites
Sometimes I read all the reviews in the NYRB, even reviews of things I'd probably never buy, or art exhibitions I wouldn't go to. They are so well written that I learn a lot. I have some favorite writers who show up there a lot, such as Garry Wills.

In magazines like Time the reviews are so consumer-oriented that you really wouldn't bother with them unless you were actually considering buying the book or recording that they're talking about. But in the NYRB, they really talk about interesting stuff. There are also a lot of essays that aren't reviews, exactly, but just reflect on the state of the world. The New Yorker used to have long essays like that, but since Tina Brown started running it, they don't do that any more. (Basically, with the New Yorker you used to get free "books", because some of those essays were as long as short books. Now you don't. There are still longish essays like that in the NYRB, sometimes published in parts.)

There is also something aesthetically pleasing about the size and layout of the magazine. It's tabloid-sized on newsprint (but not newsprint that yellows with time) and is very readable. No glossy trash.

I checked my last issue and the new-subscriber price listed there is $64/year. So Amazon's price is OK. If you get an issue on the newsstand for $4.50 and then subscribe, you'll pay $68.50.

Among the very best...
NYRB is among my favorite subscriptions (I used to love the Atlantic Monthly; but, it has been rather disappointing over the last several years since they dumbed it down); In terms of sheer intellectual depth and range, it is very tough to beat the NYRB. While I do not read the NYRB cover to cover (and you do get articles that are sub-par), I end up spending at least 5 hrs on each issue.

I receive the print edition as well as access the content online. While I love the convenience of online access, I look forward to the print edition every month simply to browse though all the books that are advertised by various publishers. Over the last several years, I have found many great books through this avenue (and the some through Amazon's recommendations)! I hope NYRB introduces personalized recommendations (only from the traditional inventory of books it advertises in the print edition) in recommending additional books online - both old and new.

The main strength of this magazine is the fact that a typical review article is written by an expert with deep knowledge of the subject (some times opinionated; but always intelligent and engaging). While the article draws on more than a single book, I like the fact that the article is typically written as a commentary around a theme and is more than a summary of the books under review.