This general-interest magazine, which summarizes "the best of the U.S. and international media," is an eye-opener. The Week offers well-edited, bite-sized summations of both Left and Right, often juxtaposed against each other. The spin, the contradictions, the crazy -- on both sides -- remain intact. The technique not only showcases slant and faulty reasoning but allows one to see the distinctions in editorial coverage. It helps weed out rant from real reporting. Best of all, you stay informed and can impress your friends!

I remember years ago when my sister, who was a clinical psychologist at a state hospital, described Psychology Today as a consumer magazine that some people think of as a trade magazine, and she did not mean it unkindly. So it still seems to be. The May/June issue contains lengthy features that are probing and insightful, yet also contains short, choppy front-of-the-book stuff that seems oddly out of place for a publication with so many Ph.D.s on the masthead.

You may have never heard of it (and neither had I), but SOMA has time on its side. The West Coast-based magazine first published 22 years ago claims to be the longest-running independent arts and culture magazine in the country.

When I want to showcase my erudition, aware that too few worship George Gershwin or know all the lyrics to Cole Porter's "I Get A Kick Out of You," I tell people what a gene is. What's a gene? It's a nucleic acid that codes for a protein. What's protein? Outside of the steaks at Sammy's Roumanian on the Lower East Side, I haven't a clue. I don't know what cholesterol is either; except that at Sammy's, which keeps chicken fat on the table, it's our friend. Science is a sealed book, which is why I opened Science News.

It's older than prejudice itself, this impulse to turn the joke inward and therefore diffuse some of its sting as it implodes. Legions of minorities and generations of stand-up comedians have all embraced labels that were hurled in spite. And so it is with Geek Monthly. The staff and readership both seem to say it loud and say it proud: That's right, we're reveling in our geekiness, once a month on the newsstands and every day online.

It's a popular assumption of non-wrestling fans (and possibly some old-school fans) that wrestling is fake, wrestlers and their fans are rednecks and dumber than a sandwich bag of hair, and that it's not a sport for those of the book learnin's. I'd like you to step into the ring with me and experience what I like to call "WWE Magazine will teach you..."

I admit I approached the latest issue of Fine Cooking with some trepidation. I like to cook and I love eating at gourmet restaurants, but I was put off by what I perceived to be the highbrow title. I thought, best case scenario, I would laugh at ridiculously complicated recipes filled with impossible-to-find ingredients. Thankfully, the magazine's contents proved me wrong. It's sophisticated without being condescending. The recipes are out of the ordinary, but not out of reach even for beginners. The articles are delightfully written and you don't need a culinary degree to appreciate them.

Esquire is willing to employ new and innovative methods to sell issues, and that's no small task for print publications these days. But is it too 20th Century to suggest that blinking lights (yes, Esquire tried that with an E-Ink cover a few months back) can't do the work of excellent writing and artwork?

The editors of Plate magazine have never met a pun they did not like. These guys might make the headline writers at the New York Post blush. The most recent pun-tastic edition of the trade bimonthly aimed at chefs and kitchen professionals -- The Sandwich Issue -- kicks things off right from the coverlines: "In Sandwiches We Crust" and "Taking a Crack at Egg Sandwiches."

The cover of Country Living features a porch chair for $59. If I had a porch, I wouldn't put out extra chairs. That would invite others to sit down. And talk. And spoil what every urbanite thinks the country offers: peace.