The Believer, Issue 77: January 2011

The Believer #77

by The Believer

The Believer is a monthly magazine where length is no object. It features long articles, interviews, and book reviews, as well as poems, comics, and a two-page vertically-oriented Schema spread, more or less unreproduceable on the web. The common thread in all these facets is that The Believer gives people and books the benefit of the doubt (the working title of this magazine was The Optimist). On each issue, Charles Burns' beautiful illustrations adorn the cover; a regular raft of writers, artists, and photographers fill the pages; and the feel of the Westcan Printing Group’s gorgeous “Roland Enviro 100 Natural” recycled acid-free heavy stock paper warms the reader's heart.

80 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

The Believer is a United States literary magazine that also covers other arts and general culture. Founded and designed in 2003 by the writer and publisher Dave Eggers, it is edited by Vendela Vida, Heidi Julavits and Ed Park. It is published in San Francisco nine times a year.

Reviews

[G · Rating 3 out of 5]

A less-memorable issue of the believer, but still containing the odd sparkling gem scattered throughout.

Highlights:
- Jack Pendarvis's "Musins and Thinkins" column, which has grown on me tremendously over the last few issues
- "Internacionalista," a hilarious story of backpacking through a communist revolution in Nicaragua.
- Interviews with musician Pharoahe Monch and writer John Ehle, which made me want to seek out works by both
- Nick Horny's "Stuff I've Been Reading" - on the lesser Dickens
- "One Page Book Reviews" - I really need to get around to reading that "Sexual Life of an Islamist in Paris" book, it sounds hilarious
- "Conscientious Clothing," a look at what ethically and environmentally friendly clothing would cost and how it would happen.

Lowlights:
- A couple articles of ranting about how electronic readers are going to destroy literature. Based on all the people who love to wax poetic about feeling and smelling and holding physical books in their hands, I am beginning to imagine a world populated by book fondlers rather than book readers.
- Hip-hop labels schema. I love hip hop, I love this delightful infographic column in the middle of each month's Believer. Why, then, did this bore me? I don't know, I guess I just don't pay that much attention to record labels, much like I tend to ignore book publishers. People who work in either industry are welcome to convince my why I should change.
- Bianca Casady's interview. I think I'm just not cultured enough to understand the appeal. Or something.

[Hans · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, so I'm an issue or two* behind, but I blame it on The Believer. I would have a lot less to read if they weren't constantly pushing the act of reading, recommending books to read, and encouraging the readers to be interested in art and music beyond the world of books.

As a fan of reading-on-paper, I enjoyed Reif Larsen's essay/mash-note to books on paper. I'm not opposed to electronic story-telling, but his closing reminded me of my recent reading experience of a novel on paper that included images and text from web sites inside the book and an app with audio, video, and additional text triggered when you scanned the images in the book: "Indeed, knowing when to harness the power of the new media and when to let the simplicity of text work it's magic may well be our greatest challenge..."

Lots of other great surprises in the issue, which of course made me add more books to my to-read list.

But, I have to highlight one more interesting piece from Larsen's essay (emphasis mine): "And in Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg, the perfecter of movable type, we were lucky to have not just a visionary inventor but a master designer, in that he imposed a strict ratio onto his page's dimensions: the golden 5:8, which happens to nestle nicely into hand and elbow and the very skeleton of our humanness." Now, pick up your copy of The Believer and hold it up to (almost) any other book. The Believer does not follow the 5:8 ratio...it's closer to 6.8:8. Hmmmm.
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*perhaps closer to twenty-some issues behind

[Jane Yu · Rating 4 out of 5]

vol. 9, no. 1