Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2022/January 2023 i Reader's Digest

WE HAVE A motto at Reader's Digest: Find something good in the world and praise it. On our best days, we inspire someone to create good in the world. That is what happened with our holiday issue last year. Our article “Angels in Action” included a touching story about a couple shopping for a recumbent bicycle for the wife, who was battling Lou Gehrig's disease, or ALS. Moved by their story, the owner gifted them the bike. Reader Michael Puz from Ellwood City, Pennsylvania, wrote to us, “I was really touched by the generous action of the shop owner who, after learning about the wife's condition, tore off the price tag and gave the couple the expensive bicycle for free. The article also resonated with me because my father had…

There is no way they just drove into that water, thought Corion Evans. The 16-year-old was hanging out with friends in a parking area underneath a Moss Point, Mississippi, highway in July when a sedan with three teenage girls inside propelled off a boat ramp and into the Pascagoula River. It came to rest some 20 feet from land, then sank. The driver, Evans would learn, had blindly followed erroneous directions from her GPS. It was around 2:30 a.m. by the time Evans and brothers Karon and Caleb Bradley got to the river's edge. In the darkness, they could barely make out the girls clinging to the roof, the only part of the car still, barely, above water. But they could hear screaming. Evans ripped off his shirt and shoes,…

Queen Elizabeth's former bodyguard, Richard “Dick” Griffin, told Sky News about the time he and the queen ran into two American hikers while strolling in the hills of Scotland. The Americans had no clue whom they were speaking to and proceeded to regale them with all the places in Great Britain they'd visited. Then, one of the men asked the kindly elderly lady—aka the queen—where she lived. “I live in London,” she said. “But I've got a holiday homejuston the other side of the hills.” “And how often have you been coming up here?” “Since I was a little girl, so over 80 years.” “Oh, then you must have met the queen.” Gesturing to Griffin, the queen said, “Well, I haven't, but Dick here meets her regularly.”…

When my sixth-grade daughter started suffering from severe migraines— and became depressed because of it— I started sinking into depression too. We tried a therapy called biofeedback, and our health-care provider near our home in Boulder, Colorado, suggested that we also try “healing her gut” with a probiotic designed specifically to boost mood and brain health by repopulating the microbiome with beneficial bacteria. I bought some for both of us. Within one week of taking the probiotic, I felt the dark cloud over me begin to lift, and after a month my depression was gone. My daughter's headache broke and her mood improved too. Now I take the probiotic three days a week for maintenance. —Name withheld, as told to Charlotte Hilton Andersen…

A psychiatrist with two young sons—one a pessimist, the other an optimist—tries an experiment. For Christmas, he fills the pessimist's room with beautifully wrapped presents, while in the optimist's room he dumps a huge heap of horse manure. On Christmas morning he finds his little pessimist, surrounded by gifts, crying, “What if I don't like any of them?” The father then walks into the next room, where he finds his optimistic son excitedly digging through the odorous pile. “Password cannot be same as last password.” OK, but why not? It's clearly very hard to guess. I couldn't crack it and I'm the one who made it. @ROASTMALONE “What are you doing?” yells the father. His optimistic son replies: “There's gotta be a pony in here somewhere!” —CENTREFOROPTIMISM.COM A lovely thing…

I'd Like to Propose a Roast Our entire household caught COVID-19 just a few days before Christmas. Amid the stress, I forgot that I'd already ordered a rib roast for our holiday dinner. When the butcher called to tell us it was ready, I told him that, unfortunately, we'd caught COVID and couldn't pick it up. He replied, “I'll drop it off when I get off work. You shouldn't be without Christmas dinner.” The doorbell rang at 5:15 p.m. The roast was hanging on the doorknob. The butcher waved from the end of the driveway, and I asked how to pay. He said, “Merry Christmas. Just get better.” —VICTORIA SEFRANEK Bethlehem, PA Guardian Angels It was my first Christmas as a newlywed and mother in Cadillac, Michigan. I had our…

IT WAS 2017 when Susanne Andersson Barkels, then 36, of Stockholm, Sweden, noticed lumps in her breast and armpit. Doctors diagnosed her with the aggressive HER2-positive breast cancer. After enduring chemotherapy, surgeryand radiation, her cancer went into remission. But by 2021 it had metastasized to her spine and brain. She underwent more treatment, but the tumors continued to grow. Then her oncologist told her about a new drug that targets HER2-positive breast cancers: Enhertu had just been approved in Europe. After three doses, the largest tumor in Barkels's brain had shrunk by more than 50%. She continues taking Enhertu, hoping to shrink it further. “I have faith in this medicine,” says Barkels, “and I have hope that other new cancer treatments are on the way.”…

You have the power within you to create a life greater than any fairy tale you've read. —Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, IN NEW YORK MAGAZINE If my dogs are happy, I'm happy. That sounds like something my mother used to say about her children, which I thought was… way overstated. I was wrong. —Isaac Mizrahi, DESIGNER, IN VANITY FAIR You have to use your voice, even if it shakes. There are times when you will ask for change, and there are times when you'll create it. —Allyson Felix, SPRINTER, TO GRADUATES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA The act of reading is extraordinary— whole worlds created out of black squiggles on a white ground. —John Banville, NOVELIST, IN THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW I'm a terrible rearview-mirror guy. I prefer…

1. avarice n. (‘av-uh-riss) A goodwill B guidance C greed 2. fettered adj. (‘feh-terd) A garnished B chained C silver-plated 3. jocund adj. (‘jah-kuhnd) A cheerful B fertile C muscular 4. scabbard n. (‘skab-erd) A beggar child B tiny quantity C blade's sheath 5. gainsay v. (gayn-'say) A profit B deny C suppose 6. dirge n. (derj) A song of grief B snow squall C hooded spirit 7. congenial adj. (kun-'jee-nee-uhl) A pleasurable B related by marriage C from birth 8. garret n. Ogeh-ret) A attic room B top hat C poorhouse 9. misanthropic adj. (mih-sun-'thrah-pik) A nearsighted B antisocial C animal-like 10. vestige n. (‘veh-stij) A trace B church bell C lost love 11. capacious adj. (kuh-'pay-shuss) A qualified B fickle C roomy 12. brigand n. (‘brih-gund) A workhorse B coal-burning stove C bandit 13. pendulous adj. Open-juh-luss) A next to last B hanging loosely C spectacular 14. bestow v. (bih-'stoh) A hide B…

There's plenty to do at Taylorsville Lake State Park, southeast of Louisville, Kentucky—boating, fishing, hiking. And now reading. At the behest of park manager Carey Ruff, local wood hobbyist Gene Balter built a little library as a book exchange for campers in need of something to read under the stars or on a rainy day. Resembling a classic Airstream camper, the library is filled with westerns, romance novels, instruction manuals, kids books and more. And it's almost as popular as the hiking. It had been up only a couple of weeks, says Ruff, “and we've already had to restock it.”…

My wife loves Christmas songs, and she loooves to sing them. Sixteen years ago, while we were driving on vacation, she decided to pass the time by singing “The Christmas Song.” You know, “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire …” She didn't sing it once. She didn't sing it twice. She sang it over and over again. So, I decided to mess with her. When she got to the line “Jack Frost nipping at your nose,” I blanched. “Why are you singing that song?” I said, in my most mortified voice. When she looked confused, I feigned surprise that she was unaware of her faux pas. I proceeded to inform her that, like many a Grimm's fairy tale, Christmas songs often have a dark past and that Jack Frost was…

Why is no one talking about the sheer pleasure of coming home from vacation and using your own bathroom? @ALOOVIBES Difference between being on vacation and being home: Last night I had a 10-oz. filet mignon for dinner. Tonight I had Fruity Pebbles. @RODLACROIX Car trips with my wife are great, ‘cause I get to listen to 10 seconds each of400 songs she hates. @DADDYGOFISH I'm in England, Great Britain AND United Kingdom all at the same time?! Girl! What is the name of this country? @DULCESLOAN I am 32 years old and still deeply terrified that consuming anything from the hotel minibar will bankrupt my entire family somehow. @ARMANDDOMA…

If you haven't thought about tinned fish like anchovies and sardines lately (or ever!), you're missing out on an affordable, portable nutritional powerhouse. They're one of the healthiest snacks around, packed with omega-3 fatty acids, protein, calcium and vitamin A. And how many other superfoods come in tins pretty enough to gift? Zingerman's, the famed mail-order culinary emporium in Ann Arbor, Michigan, stocks more than 70 types of tinned fish, including aged varieties. But no need for a special occasion to open up a vintage tin, co-founder Ari Weinzweig says. “Eat them as is, just like an awesome aged cheese.” Sardines appeal to almost everyone, he says, “from salt-of-the-earth workers to culinary elites.” Weinzweig notes their presence in various food traditions. “Sardines were a staple of the coastal Native American…

1IF YOU'VE ever picked up—and then put down—a crossword puzzle, don't get discouraged. Crosswords are less about intelligence and vocabulary than you might think. The real key is understanding the clues. For instance, question marks indicate some element of word play. So, while the answer to “Job that involves watching the kids” might be BABYSITTER, add a question mark to the end of the clue and it's more likely GOATHERD. 2 SPEAKING OF kids, they were among the earliest solvers. Primitive versions of the puzzle first appeared in British children's books in the 1800s. But in the United States, crosswords developed into an adult pastime—and passion—after Arthur Wynne published his original “Word-Cross” puzzle in the New York World on Dec. 21, 1913 (the anniversary of which is now National Crossword…

FOR ANYONE WHO thinks that vaping is a healthy alternative to smoking cigarettes, it's time to think again. Evidence is mounting that vaping—inhaling a liquid containing dozens of chemicals— causes lung damage and can even be deadly. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports close to 3,000 cases and 68 deaths from a new vaping-related lung disease. Like cigarette smoking, vaping is addictive, making it difficult to quit. And while vaping has a reputation as a teen habit, an estimated 5.7 million American adults are vaping too. Quitting might be tough, but the benefits make it worth the effort. Here's a rundown of the health improvements you'll see, starting in just minutes. Twenty minutes after you stop… “Your heart rate returns to normal, your blood pressure drops and your…

Odd gifts have a long history, dating back to the ‘50s when chemistry sets, like the Gilbert U-238 Atomic Energy Lab, came with real uranium. According to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, the U-238 set also came with a comic book featuring Blondie's Dagwood Bumstead, titled Learn How Dagwood Splits the Atom. Here are a few odd gifts people on Redditgot: “A car crash kit. It had a disposable camera for recording the scene, a form for both parties to fill out, and some chalk, for what I assume was for marking out where the dead bodies landed.” “Aset of miniature butter knives with ceramic fruit and vegetables as the handles. From an aunt who said that I was ‘so hard to shop for.’ I was 7.” “50 pounds…

SUSAN FALBO had gone 20 years without taking a sick day. So it came as a shock in 2017 when doctors told the 59-year-old Shadyside, Ohio, resident that she had mesothelioma cancer in the membrane covering her right lung. Surgery, 30 rounds of radiation and four rounds of chemotherapy stabilized her for a year, but then tu mors began to grow again. She recalls one oncologist telling her, “You know you're not going to survive this, right?” Then she discovered she was a prime candidate for a trial using immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) therapy along with the drugs nivolumab and ipilimumab. She began in October 2019, and within three months, all four of her tumors had shrunk. Today, three are virtually gone, and the fourth has shrunk by threequarters. “I'll…

The selfie Darren Harrison has just taken shows him dressed casually in white shorts and a T-shirt with his bare feet propped up on a plush gray leather seat. He is the lone passenger in the roomy six-seat cabin of a single-engine Cessna 208 turboprop some 12,000 feet above the Atlantic off the east coast of Florida. He sends the photo to his wife, Brittney Harrison, who is six months pregnant with their first child. Harrison, a 39-year-old flooring sales executive, is returning to his home in Lakeland, Florida, after taking part in an offshore deep-sea fishing tournament in Marsh Harbour, Bahamas. It's around noon. The early May weather is perfect and the views— brilliant blue skies and crystalline ocean below—are drop-dead beautiful. The plane is being flown by Ken…

AS one of the most recognized and respected brand names in the United States for 100 years now, Reader's Digest takes an interest in finding out which other companies have earned such confidence from consumers. To do that, we partner with the research firm Ipsos every year to ask Americans about the companies they trust, from cleaning supplies to cruise lines. This year, for our seventh annual survey, we included some new product categories, such as streaming services, all-inclusive resorts, vacuums and food storage. These names came out on top after our sample of 4,000 Americans voted on which home and family brands they trust most: AUTO Auto Insurance State Farm Passenger Cars (excluding trucks) Toyota SUVs/Crossovers Toyota ELECTRONICS Streaming Service Netflix Wireless Provider Verizon Earlier this year, Verizon gave unlim…

Give the Gift of Good Cheer If your list is loaded with people who are difficult to shop for, we've got you covered. Our brand-new book. Laughter, the Best Medicine 2022, is a guaranteed good time, full of comical quotes and cartoons, as well as more than 400 funny stories. These are the loudest laughs from the last 100 years of RD—your #1 source for familyfriendly humor—all in one place. And at just $10 (plus free shipping), why not treat yourself to one too? Reserve your copy at rd.com/RDDEC.…

WHERE, OH WHERE? (page 44) B. Longwood Gardens is in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. (Lincoln Financial Field is where the Philadelphia Eagles play.) BRAIN GAMES (pages 107-108) Quick Crossword Across 3. HULK 6. YOSHI 7. YODA 9. ELPHABA 10. GRINCH DOWN 1. BUTTERCUP 2. SUMER 4. OSCAR 5. GAMORA 8. SHREK Either/Or The word is CHAMPION. Tear Through It Cascade 7. The numbers 1 through 9 appear in ascending order diagonally starting at the top left and ending in the bottom right. Cookie Cutter 55, written in green. Given that everything on each house is colormatched, it should be clear that some vandal has mixed up the mailboxes. Once they're put back, each mailbox displays the number of panels on the door to the house times the number of window panes.…

JIM GULAUB AND Dylan Parker had just been handed the keys to their new Manhattan apartment on 22nd Street when the outgoing tenant said something curious: “Just so you know, there's this thing where letters addressed to Santa come to the apartment.” The previous tenants received the mail too. It had been coming for years and no one knows why. “But it's not that big a deal.” Glaub and Parker settled in to their new home, and for the first two years only a few letters trickled in from kids or parents asking “Santa” for gifts they could not otherwise afford: Toys, coats, a doll. Then in the months leading to Christmas 2010, they were deluged. Every day, they'd open their mailbox to find it brimming over with letters to…

1 ENTERTAINING Keep the Bubbles in Your Bubbly Champagne, like its bubbles, is fleeting and effervescent. It doesn't take long until an opened bottle falls flat. If you happen to have leftover bubbly on New Year's Eve, slide the handle of a spoon into the top of the bottle before putting it in the fridge. The metal spoon won't exactly replace the cork, but it'll keep air in the neck cold and act as an obstacle for the escaping carbon dioxide (that's what makes champagne frothy) for a night. It'll be as fizzy in morning mimosas as it was for your midnight toast. SOURCE: RD.COM 2 Money Insure Your Costco Run Should your power cut out and take the entirety of yourfully stocked fridge and freezer with it, don't eat…

YOGA HAS a well-deserved reputation for helping to improve balance and flexibility and for inducing calm and relaxation. But when it comes to weight loss, many people assume that other types of exercise, like cardio or strength training, will be more helpful. While you might not burn as many calories by practicing yoga as you would by running or doing some other high-intensity aerobic activity, yoga can still raise your heart rate and help build muscle— and, at rest, muscle burns about twice as many calories as fat does. “Studies show that aerobic forms of exercise, which is any exercise that uses your large muscle groups and raises your heart rate, are beneficial for weight loss,” says Sally Sherwin, a yoga teacher with the Cleveland Clinic Wellness Yoga. “Power or…

LOSING SLEEP CAN SNOOZE OUR RELATIONSHIPS According to a Swedish study, after one night of no sleep, participants were more likely to interpret an angry face as less trustworthy than rested folks were. They also rated neutral and fearful faces as less attractive. This is because people spent less time analyzing facial expressions after a sleepless night, which could lead them to misinterpret the faces or overreact to them. Unfortunately, when we do this, it can lead us to withdraw socially. So next time you're feeling sensitive in this way, it's probably time for a nap. What One Hour Away from Your Phone Can Do More than 3.5 billion people worldwide spend an average of three hours a day glued to their smartphones— on social media, texting, checking emails. According…

FROM THE WASHINGTON POST ON A FRIDAY evening in December, two weeks before Christmas, I lost my job. I hadn't seen it coming. I was excited for the weekend, when my daughter, Kristil, then 12, and I planned to get our Christmas tree. Then I listened to my voicemail: “We're sorry but your work assignment has ended as of today.” My heart sank. I wasn't just a single parent; I was the only parent. My paycheck was survival. The next day as we searched for our tree, I struggled to be cheerful as I eyed each price tag. “Is everything OK?” Kristil asked. “You seem worried.” “I got some bad news yesterday,” I told her. “I lost my job.” “Oh no,” Kristil said. “Well, I have $100 from Grandma I…

IN 2010, Owen Snider, then 63, was diagnosed with lymphoma. Chemotherapy sent the disease into remission. When it returned in 2016, Snider had a stem cell transplant. But when his lymphoma returned again in 2020, doctors told him he had a few months to live. Then he got a call: There was a spot in a CART-cell immunotherapy trial. “It was a ray of hope,” says the retiree, who lives near Ottawa in Ontario. Doctors extracted T-cellsand sent them to a lab where they were genetically modified and allowed to multiply. Meanwhile, Snider received three days of a milder chemo treatment, and then doctors injected him with the modified cells. “They wentto work like Pac-Man, chomping up all the cancer cells,” says Snider. Thirty days later, there was no trace…

BOOKS The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man By Paul Newman In 1986, Paul Newman tasked his best friend, StewartStern, with interviewing collaborators, family and friends for his memoir, recently unearthed from Joanne Woodward's home nearly 15 years after her husband's passing. Sweet, Soft, Plenty Rhythm By Laura Warrell In this novel, Boston trumpet player Circus Palmer is jammed up by unexpected pregnancy news— especially since he'syet to rectify his relationship with the daughter he already has, who idolizes him despite his absence. Can the old-school jazz musician and ladies’ man face the music? The Space Shuttle By Roland Miller Amission-by-mission log of NASA's space shuttle program, with descriptions and details as breathtaking as its photos of Earth. Cook As You Are By Ruby Tandoh The Great British Bake Off…