This is our second installment of A Survey! Last time's game is here. Today we're asking: do we like Portfolio, Conde Nast's new business magazine, or does it annoy us?
The Pros:
- As we mentioned last time we blogged about the magazine, Michael Lewis is a contributing editor. And today, we gave a family member a Michael Lewis book for Christmas. We've gone this for about 19 Christmas' in a row. If, god forbid, Michael Lewis stops writing books, our family members will likely stop receiving gifts.
- The stories are short and are informal.
- There is a humor present in the stories -- stories that are more or less about serious subjects -- that you rarely find in other mainstream periodicals.
The Cons:
- The shortness and informality seem to almost border on the flippant. This worries us.
- The shortness also prevents any in-depth analysis. We know this seems like a preposterous thing to even have to mention -- how could shorts things contain in-depth analysis? Two words: James Surowiecki. His pieces in the New Yorker are never longer than one page (plus, there's also a cartoon in the middle, so it's actually less than one full page). And we always feel like we walk away with a grasp on whatever topic he explores after that one page. We were hoping Portfolio would be a magazine full of Surowiecki-esque pieces. We're not hopeful it's reached such heights.
So, Survey Time, boys and girls. Go out and read the magazine, and let us know what you think. Does this magazine have the chance to be a must-read, always-on-our-coffee-table magazine? Or does it just annoy us?
