Welcome to the Good Life Chronicles, where living a good life takes center stage.
Maybe it’s my age, maybe it’s my personality, but I love to hold an actual paper magazine. Not scrolling, swiping, or clicking, not a tablet either, just turning paper pages (who knew we now had to specifiy!).
From The Economist to The Monocle, and some Condé Nast Traveler’s in between, I love the feel of magazines. Partly because they look impressive on the airplane (guilty!), but mainly because the writing is good, there is a lot of content and few ads. They challenge my mind and keep me informed. Even if the issue is five weeks old (don’t judge me), those pages still transport me somewhere else.
My feed is full of noisy soundbites, quick AI generated posts with little depth, and with my own bad habit of mindless scrolling, reading a magazine is both a break and an act of rebellion. It’s even more important when you consider that people today read less and less. Will reading be the new superpower?
But more than anything, reading - unlike scrolling - exposes me to unexpected topics that are not curated or preselected by the algorithm. It’s also a mindful break where I control the speed of information coming in and can reread the same sentence twice, or even three times for effect.
A quality life is one that’s intellectually alive, curious and open to new ideas.
When was the last time you went to the magazine section in the grocery store, public library, or bookstore?
If you’re in Dubai, head to the Mohammed Bin Rashid Public Library (here). It’s my favourite. I go to the racks, grab several magazines that I’d never pay for in real life! I also sneak in a little bag of candy (shhh) and I sit near the water pools and read for an hour or until my candy finishes. I feel the paper, the textures… the smell of the pages. It’s surprisingly rewarding. In our high-tech world, it’s also a nice way not to do “speed living” for a change.
What's your Good Life reading material and place?
What great spaces are you reading it; more importantly, what are you reading? Share it in the comments here or below depending on your platform. Remember to log in first to leave a comment.
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Have a great week
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