Reviews For Mental Floss Magazine

I was considering this magazine subscription for a gift and picked up a copy at the supermarket to check it out. After reading it cover to cover I decided against it.

Pros: Entertaining and downright funny in places, it made me giggle several times. Good variety of information: history, people, geography, arts, etc. Formatted in bits, mostly paragraph length pieces with occasional longer articles. Good for conversation starters or to impress others with your vast knowledge.

Cons: The writing style did not "hook" me. Perhaps it's targeted more at a male audience. Some of the articles were silly expositions of unlike things (e.g. Caesars: Sid Caesar, Cesar Chevez and Caesar salad). I occasionally got the feeling that the authors were awfully proud of themselves for being so clever and above the societal mainstream (though they do it tongue-in-cheek). Finally, although it may make you feel smart, Mental Floss doesn't offer any real wisdom. You may come away knowing a few more facts, but does that make you a better person?

If you want a good magazine for thinking through moral and religious issues, take a look at First Things. But this will probably be fun for your trivia buffs and high school honor student types.

Packed full of interesting, fun facts. Only problem is that it is too packed full. But we will keep picking it up and learning new things.

From the magazine description I expected to be rivited at the turn of every page. Didn't happen the way I imagined. It's Ok at best.

Of course it's meant to be a collection of bits and pieces to wake-up those synapses - so the scattered format shouldn't be a surprise - but it is. Disorder is no problem for me - I have a high tolerance for ambiguity. So think about what kind of floss you're seeking - content brainteasers or process challenges(readability). This gives some of both. Content: Some articles are pretty ordinary - stuff most people know already - but other tidbits are in depth additions thst are new and fun for any trivia hound. As for readability: It takes a lot of concentration to find your way through each page-let alone the whole magazine. I will continue to subscribe, but I do wish they would string together just a few of those loose ends which serve not to 'floss'the brain but instead to burn out the reader's neurosynaptic connections.

I was hoping for an Unte Reader-lite type magazine to share with my students. Instead, Mental Floss is just a bunch of assorted trivia pieces. Worse yet, they use the same snarky, condescending tone that rags like Entertainment Weekly and Rolling Stone have been using. I have grown very tired of hearing the writers voice. Some of the articles have good bits of party knowledge sure, but you would just be better off hitting the random button on Wikipedia.

Have to agree with the negative reviewers. Lots of disjointed random trivia. Should be called "Mental Flotsam & Jetsam" instead. Data is not information is not knowledge is not wisdom. Do yourself a favor: Spend the time reading widely and reading quality materials instead of with this magazine. You'll learn far more and will still be able to fill your brain with as many interesting factoids as you could ever wish.

If Maxim had an IQ of 75, Mental Floss barely beats it out with an IQ of 90.
Not very stimulating with tid-bits and random facts. Actually not worth spending your time on - might as well do a cross word puzzle or walk your dog.

I bought this mag hoping against hope that it would be a stimulating read. Instead I felt like I was just duped into buying a magazine staffed completely by people suffering ADHD. There was NOTHING in depth. I was completely frustrated...in fact I tossed it across the bedroom up finishing! If you are looking for REAL mental stimulation, try WQ or similar DEEP mags.

I do give it two stars because it certainly would seem to entertain and cater to most of our culture on speed. So if you are like most popular culture, you will probably like it.

I wonder who came up with "Mental Floss"? It's more like "Can you Think"? Very little in this gloss that you wouldn't find in your local paper, near the trivia questions and funny pages. Nothing...zero...nata. Save a tree.

Ordered this for my father. He loves Kiplinger, Bottom Line, USA Today and other publications. He said this was a nice thought, but terrible.