| Product: |
The Economist |
| Date: |
20/04/01 (119 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Up to date info
Disadvantages: Expensive if not a subscriber
Now I know that for writing this review, I’m going to be classed as a nerd, so in defence I have to say that ‘The Economist’ is a desired reading material, extra to the normal big fat, boring, text books and journals that I’m supposed and expected to read as part of my course.
For all of those people who don’t know me, or what I do, I’m a geography student at the University of Plymouth, which has one of the best departments in the country, some very talented and respected lecturers, and a great and useful web site with brilliant links in the geography department section.
The standard on my course is pretty high and I’m expected to read a lot about the various topics that I study every semester, be it biogeography, statistics, or international and political geography. As my preferred subject is political geography then there are several publications that I could read to keep me informed on the day-to-day goings on in the world.
I have read several of ‘The Economists’ rivals in this field and have come to the conclusion that it is the best of the bunch. It only reports the facts on stories, and doesn’t glamorise them like certain other publications do, such as ‘Time’ magazine.
It is set out in normally 16 sections, so it is easy to find what topic you are interested in just by going to the relevant section.
1. News Summaries; this section gives you the main news in a summary form as the title suggests, so if its just the basic facts that your after then this is your section.
2. Letters; This section gives people from around the world a chance to express their opinions on certain topics, they are almost always of a high quality, and from people with relevant experience in the topic area, so their opinions are well balanced and grounded.
3. Special; This is just a page with focuses on one specific question, and example being, ‘A Franco-Germa
n divorce?’
4. Britain; This section as you have probably guessed contains topics primarily concerned with Britain, such as current issues, on political, social, economic, and financial events of the past week.
5. Europe; This section is the same as the Britain section but contains news from Europe instead.
6. United States; This section again contains news relating to the United States of America.
7. The Americas; This is one of my most favourite sections as it contains news from Central and South America, (one of my chosen topics), rest assured there is never a dull moment in this section, with rumours of scandal rife.
8. International; International news from other nations and continents not mentioned in the previous sections. Normally about Africa, and the Middle East.
9. Asia; News from Asia, concerning the week’s goings on.
10. Business, This section is exclusively to do with business, and to be honest I don’t often read this bit as business does not interest me. However if there is something relevant to my study then I will read it.
11. Special; Again this section is concerned with a specific topic or question, an example being, Japan’s Sick economy.
12. Finance and Economics; Another section I’m afraid that does not appeal to me, not saying of course that it isn’t of a high quality because if it mirrors the standard of the rest of the publication then it is of the highest quality.
13. Science and Technology; This section lets us know all about recent development in this field, ranging from mobile phones to dark matter in the Milky Way (not the chocolate bar).
14. Books and Art; Past and present work is reported on and reviewed in this section, and if they haven’t talked about it at one stage or another, then its probably not worth seeing or reading.
15. Obituary; As you have probably realised this section informs the public of the death of people in view of the world. S
ometimes household names and others times only recognised to people in their specific field, not suggesting that their lives were any less important.
16. Indicators; Economic and financial indicators from the worlds markets, as well as other relevant information, that you would not perhaps expect to find in this type of publication.
On occasion there is also another special section that is in report format concerning a specific topic in detail. These ‘specials’ can be on any subject ranging from Mexico to Technology Quarterly.
‘The Economist’ is published on a weekly basis and you can find the new copy on the shelves of most good newsagents either on a Thursday or Friday depending on where in the country you are.
Price
At £2.70 a week its not cheap to be informed of the worldly goings on, however if you are a serious reader you can subscribe, which they encourage you to do, by giving huger discounts.
Subscription
3 years (153 issues) pay £145.00 Save 65%
2 years (102 issues) pay £110.00 Save 60%
1 year (51 issues) pay £62.00 Save 55%
The advantage to subscription is that it saves you a shed load of money, and they deliver it to your door, via the postman. They also send you free via e-mail the summary news’s letter to you PC.
‘The Economist’ is a well-balanced publication, which covers a wide range of topics, and gives you answers to questions that could have plagued you. For the weekly price I would say that it is a little expensive, so subscription is a must as it saves you huge amounts of money. If you study or are interested in any of the topics that it reports on then you can guarantee that you will have the most recent information on the subject, and I for one have found is reports invaluable, in writing essays and understanding my chosen subject just that little bit better.
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