Crazy summer days



This is the wrong time of year to have a crisis, what with all the psychiatrists on vacation. Instead of curling up in a ball, curl up with these magazines.

The latest issue of Psychology Today tweaks conventional wisdom with an article on infidelity that claims that marital problems are the effect — not the cause — of extramarital sex. At the same time, it says, spouses who are happy and communicative are less likely to stray. No big surprise there. Ditto for the article that says, for the umpteenth time, that men really like curvy women despite the skinny supermodel image that fashion dictates. If those articles aren’t enough to depress you, science also shows that today’s billionaires are likely to have higher IQs than the rest of the population. Most of us are smart enough to have guessed that.

Infidelity, anyone? Psychologies magazine jumps right to the heart of what drives many people nuts: cheating. The 18-page special section on stepping out with someone else is worth the $9.50 price tag. It dissects affairs — their beginning, the middle and their always bitter end. There are six main triggers for cheating, for example. Picking up the pieces after the affair is the hardest, of course. Actress Kirsten Dunst volunteers as the cover girl for the package, and tells all in her tour through the world of cheaters.

Scientific American Mind is sure to fly off the shelves this issue because it tackles one of the most intriguing and baffling subjects of modern life: online dating. The piece offers a lot of fun, brain-tickling tips for browsing prospective dates, but will leave readers as dumb in love as they were before — an unusual position for the smart, self-help mag. Given the choice between 24 jams, for example, people are far less likely to make a purchase than people given the choice between six jams. Also, people who choose a piece of chocolate from a box of six treats indicated more satisfaction with their choice than folks who picked from a box of 30. Apply these rules to online dating and you could find yourself doing a lot better. Or not. The trouble with the article is that it also leaves readers feeling that online dating is a bit, well, futile.

Despite being billed as a glossy for the Mensa set, Mental Floss manages to deliver one of the most bone-headed or (simply unfortunately timed) pieces on Sikhism. In an already questionable feature titled “Rumble of the Religions,” Mental Floss proceeds to mock the “hirsuteness” of the thickly bearded Sikhs, who take a religious vow not to cut their hair. In light of the shocking massacre in Wisconsin last week at a Sikh temple, the tone leaves us cold. A feature about a physics professor/baseball whiz teases readers with offerings of “The man who cracked the home run code,” but all the piece really delivers is a wacky mad scientist fixated on converting baseball mechanics into formula, not someone who can deliver you the secret of becoming the next Babe Ruth.

For its fall fashion issue, New York provides an appropriately light, fluffy interview with JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, despite a rich smorgasbord of self-serving sound bites that go unchallenged. “I’m an outspoken defender of the truth,” Dimon declares. Decrying the evils of regulation, he notes, “This is not the Soviet Union. This is the United States of America.” For something that surprisingly offers more substance and certainly less yawn, check out the profile of Kim Kardashian, in which she crouches to take a photo of a peacock during a trip to the Central Park Zoo. “You can’t stand behind a crouching Kim Kardashian and not at least glance at her world-famous butt,” the mag admits with admirable candor.

Time does a nice job of capturing the scene at NASA last week, when the new Curiosity rover made its landing on Mars. Folks at Mission Control were chowing down on peanuts — a traditional superstition to ensure a safe landing — as the spacecraft touched down. Still better this week was the feature “Go Global,” which outlines the new ways in which giant global companies like Caterpillar are beginning to grow their manufacturing again — in the US of A. As foreign wages and transportation costs rise, US factories are becoming attractive again. Still more interesting, and less discussed, is the notion that local lending is likewise poised for a comeback. “Being closer to the ground, [smaller] banks will know their consumers better, which would mitigate risk and increase capital flows to small business,” the mag says.

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