i'm half way through it. it's quite interesting, but i seriously wish it were 25% as long.
i read these articles because i honestly hope to get something life changing out of them, not for the pleasure of illustrative anecdotes.
i suspect authors of such articles have a word count to meet? it's unfortunate that the economics of writing reward filling whitespace - how could we motivate writers to be as succinct as possible?
In case you aren't familiar with the New Yorker, let me bore you. We're talking about an old (1925), well-established and iconic print publication. I don't know if the writers have a word count to meet, but I think pride over the generally very high quality writing is a big part of the New Yorker's culture. I don't think that anyone is being rewarded for filling whitespace in this case. From the New Yorker's reputation and my experience reading it, I imagine the editors have a very different metric for quality.
Personally, I find the depth and breadth of writing in the New Yorker one of the most valuable things about it.
For what it's worth, the New Yorker does have a "Talk of the Town" section which probably DOES use succinctness as a standard - the pieces are very very short. Also, James Surowiecki writes an economics/business column which is only a page long, and usually brilliant and concise.
i'm half way through it. it's quite interesting, but i seriously wish it were 25% as long.
i read these articles because i honestly hope to get something life changing out of them, not for the pleasure of illustrative anecdotes.
I have no idea why you think that this expectation is shared by any of the other readers or writers of the New Yorker. It sounds completely backwards to me. I have zero interest in getting anything life-changing out of a magazine article, and a great deal of interest in anecdotes.
If you don't like it, flag it, but don't tell other people to brainstorm how to make things we like more like the things you like.
Your dissatisfaction may stem from expecting this article to be a self-help piece. But what it really is is a review of a book of scholarly essays.
You may find more satisfaction in the self-help section of your local library or bookstore, or maybe in the pages of Psychology Today rather than in The New Yorker.
i read these articles because i honestly hope to get something life changing out of them, not for the pleasure of illustrative anecdotes.
i suspect authors of such articles have a word count to meet? it's unfortunate that the economics of writing reward filling whitespace - how could we motivate writers to be as succinct as possible?