Every week I eagerly await the magazines that are dropped into my postbox, and once they arrive each is subjected a particular routine. The New Yorker I start with the cover illustration; after staring at it for a minute or two I switch to the cartoon contest on the last page; after that comes the contents page, the short contributor bios and the rest of the magazine. With Time it is rather straight-forward: a linear path from front cover to the back page, read with the same breeziness it is written with. The Economist is a bit tricky: unless distracted by a cover story or the special report, I start with the editorials and then, based on my inclination, either move to the books-and-arts pages or plough through the individual sections, page by page. All the while, though, there is one part of this ‘paper’ – as it prefers to call itself – that remains at the back of my mind, waiting for the right moment: the obituary column towards the end. I discovered it a few years ago, and ever since it has provided a window into interesting lives of (mostly) not-so-well known people.

Continue reading “The Economist Book of Obituaries” →