# Most Thought-Provoking/Best Written Magazine **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 2, 2001, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-thought-provoking-best-written-magazine/48048 "2001-01-02T03:11:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![eponymous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e0b2c6/32.png) [@eponymous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eponymous)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2001, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-thought-provoking-best-written-magazine/48048/1 "2001-01-02T03:11:58Z")
Somewhat inspired by this thread [Vote here: Most irritating mainstream magazine](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=53207), I thought it might be a kick to see what people think is the most thought provoking/best written magazine published today. I personally think that both Atlantic Monthly and The Economist are both well written and thought provoking publications. ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2001, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-thought-provoking-best-written-magazine/48048/2 "2001-01-02T04:11:17Z")
Here are some great titles: Harper’s The Baffler Beer Frame Dishwasher (is it still around?) Gauntlet The Nation Temp Slave McSweeny’s Quarterly ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2001, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-thought-provoking-best-written-magazine/48048/3 "2001-01-02T06:07:43Z")
I like Harper’s. ---
**Author:** ![Greasyfries](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d78d45/32.png) [@Greasyfries](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greasyfries)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2001, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-thought-provoking-best-written-magazine/48048/4 "2001-01-02T06:49:10Z")
DISCOVER SKEPTICAL INQUIRER or SKEPTIC BIG REEL (just because I’m an old movie geek) ---
**Author:** ![Double-P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7bcc69/32.png) [@Double-P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Double-P)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2001, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-thought-provoking-best-written-magazine/48048/5 "2001-01-02T07:05:06Z")
Tried and true, The New Yorker rarely disappoints. ---
**Author:** ![blastfurnace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5e9695/32.png) [@blastfurnace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blastfurnace)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2001, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-thought-provoking-best-written-magazine/48048/6 "2001-01-02T08:48:49Z")
MeThinks **Mother Jones** does the trick. **The Nation** and **The Onion** are also a delight. ---
**Author:** ![kawliga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ea666f/32.png) [@kawliga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kawliga)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2001, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-thought-provoking-best-written-magazine/48048/7 "2001-01-02T10:33:33Z")
Swank ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2001, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-thought-provoking-best-written-magazine/48048/8 "2001-01-02T13:52:08Z")
Another vote for the New Yorker. ---
**Author:** ![Phobos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Phobos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phobos)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2001, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-thought-provoking-best-written-magazine/48048/9 "2001-01-02T13:58:25Z")
ah, c’mon! **National Geographic**! …adventure, science, anthropology, fresh fruit. ---
**Author:** ![rundogrun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5daacb/32.png) [@rundogrun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rundogrun)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2001, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-thought-provoking-best-written-magazine/48048/10 "2001-01-02T14:00:21Z")
Adding votes for **Discover** and **New Yorker**. I also like **Adventure** …sorta like the old Men’s Journal back when it was good. ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2001, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-thought-provoking-best-written-magazine/48048/11 "2001-01-02T14:08:43Z")
Votes here for **The Economist** , plus **Private Eye** and (once you get past the obvious bias) **The New Statesman**. ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2001, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-thought-provoking-best-written-magazine/48048/12 "2001-01-02T15:04:21Z")
Loathe as I am to give credit to a magazine with that title, **The New Yorker** does do it right. I’ve only started _reading_ **National Geographic** in the last few years, and the articles are usually as good as the photography. (Which magazine has the largest ratio of subscribers to actual readers, Nat’l Geo or Playboy?) My favorite, though it’s really a paper rather than a magazine, is **High Country News** , especially their syndicated columnists, who are known as **Writers on the Range**. As the OP asks, the columns are consistently well written and thought provoking. It’s environmentalism by the people who are live in the environment they write about, as opposed to the “fly-in/figure it all out/fly-out” stuff you get from, say, Outside or Mother Jones. Try it: [http://www.hcn.org/wotr/](http://www.hcn.org/wotr/) ---
**Author:** ![andygirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9adbd/32.png) [@andygirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andygirl)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2001, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-thought-provoking-best-written-magazine/48048/13 "2001-01-02T15:29:36Z")
Teen Beat is, like, so cool. \ ---
**Author:** ![CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crankyasanoldman/32/11670_2.png) [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrankyAsAnOldMan)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2001, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-thought-provoking-best-written-magazine/48048/14 "2001-01-02T15:38:20Z")
I just subscribed to a new rag called “Brain, Child” It’s like Salon’s “Mothers Who Think” but a whole magazine of it. Alas, it comes out bimonthly. Shoot, can’t find the right website. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2001, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-thought-provoking-best-written-magazine/48048/15 "2001-01-02T15:50:01Z")
Scientific American ---
**Author:** ![Chance\_the\_Gardener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@Chance\_the\_Gardener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chance_the_Gardener)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2001, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-thought-provoking-best-written-magazine/48048/16 "2001-01-02T16:03:50Z")
I’ve been a _Harper’s_ fan for years. I’m in the middle of a three-year subscription. I even sent them a résumé—no, I actually brought my résumé into their lobby in December 1996. They didn’t call. I did the same for _Mad_, offering my services as a proofreader. They didn’t call, either, but a couple of months later, the cover of _“Maad”_ magazine announced, “Proofreader wanted.” Coïncidence? Probably… but I like to think I inspired something. **Biotop** —_[Beer Frame](http://www.zinebook.com/interv/beerfrm.html)_ is one of the greatest magazines out there. I’d certainly call it thought-provoking. _Murder Can Be Fun_ isn’t what I’d call thought-provoking, but certainly worth a glace or two. ---
**Author:** ![scratch1300](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dfb087/32.png) [@scratch1300](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scratch1300)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2001, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-thought-provoking-best-written-magazine/48048/17 "2001-01-02T18:19:01Z")
_The Nation_? _The Baffler_? _Mother Jones_? C’mon people. See? **Stoidela** was dead wrong in supposing liberals to be outnumbered on the SDMB. I’d suggest **National Review** and **The American Enterprise** as very excellent magazines. Also, I’ll second **The Economist**. Though it keeps calling itself a “newspaper”, it looks like a magazine to me. ---
**Author:** ![Chance\_the\_Gardener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@Chance\_the\_Gardener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chance_the_Gardener)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2001, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-thought-provoking-best-written-magazine/48048/18 "2001-01-02T19:48:53Z")
**Scratch1300** wrote: _C’mon people. See? Stoidela was dead wrong in supposing liberals to be outnumbered on the SDMB._ It’s not that. It’s just that conservatives don’t read. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2001, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-thought-provoking-best-written-magazine/48048/19 "2001-01-02T20:14:53Z")
Scientific American and National Geographic beat all else so, unless someone else agrees with me, we can consider this uestion conclusively answered. ---
**Author:** ![scratch1300](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dfb087/32.png) [@scratch1300](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scratch1300)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2001, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-thought-provoking-best-written-magazine/48048/20 "2001-01-02T20:28:31Z")
Oh, and also **Smithsonian** magazine is consistently interesting and well-written. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-thought-provoking-best-written-magazine/48048.md?page=2)