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This past weekend, I traveled to Chicago with my family on Amtrak. The train ride takes about 8 hours. This allows lots of time for reading and catching up on reading. I finished "Secrets and Lies" by Bruce Schneier, almost finished The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell, and discovered the Financial Times by a bunch of rich British writers.
I didn't expect to find much of interest in the Financial Times (FT). I assumed it would tell me how to invest, buy futures, and how well the latest Jaguar drives. I guessed it was a British version of the Wall Street Journal. I like the journal. One of my coworkers lets us read his at work, but I don't get the time to read it often.
The FT was a pleasant surprise. Instead of being stuffy, it was filled with articles that interested me. Newspapers have personalities and I've never found one with this personality before. It's printed on very distinctive pink paper. I've seen it before, but figured it was for toffee noses (not me). Among the many interesting articles I read, it contained a short fiction story that I really enjoyed and an article about the creator and star of "Lazy Town."
The FT website is not as compelling, but I'll check it out a few more times before dismissing it. I probably won't have the leisure time to peruse the FT again soon, but I'll keep it in mind.
2 comments:
The WSJ is terribly myopic and that's especially clear when the FT (or The Economist) shows it is possible to publish a politically enlightened, intelligent financial journal. I ran across a great article in the FT on improving the fuel efficiency of U.S. 18-wheelers using hybred technology and a new tire design.
I think the title "Financial Times" scares a lot of people off. I love that it comes in a color.
Malcolm Gladwell is fabulous. I always scan the index page for his name when I get a new copy of the New Yorker. Even before I look at the cartoons. You can get some of his stuff online like this one, "Million Dollar Murray,": http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/articles/060213fa_fact
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