Innholdsfortegnelse for September 2023 i Reader's Digest

THERE ARE A lot of funny password jokes, but my favorite is: “First they ask you to create a password so complicated that you can’t remember it, and then they lock you out when you forget what it was.” To be honest, I had to look up that joke because I couldn’t remember it. If you’re like me, you can recall every word to a song you haven’t heard since high school but can’t remember the password you created yesterday. Our brains are funny—and fickle—things. This month, we’re talking about memory, specifically the factors that can boost or break down our brainpower. See “Making Mem ories” (page 47) for tips on strengthening your recall. One tip: Do puzzles. I recommend starting with our Brain Games section (page 106). Reading is…

FROM THE BOOK 100 PLACES TO SEE AFTER YOU DIE THERE’S NO WAY to know for sure where you’re going when you die, but it’s never too early to investigate your options. After all, eternity is an awfully long time to end up in the wrong place. DUAT Ancient Egypt We know more about how the ancient Egyptians died than about how they lived. Duat, their underworld, was full of obstacles, which could be navigated successfully only with the protective spells found in the Egyptians’ famous Book of the Dead. Those obstacles comprise a full Indiana Jones temple of doom: There’s a lake of fire, torture chambers and even booby traps. But for the adventurous traveler, the iron walls and turquoise trees of Duat make for an afterlife unlike any…

I asked my granddaughter how her first day of first grade went. “Well,” she said, “I don’t know how to read yet.” —SUSAN WESTON Trenton, MI A freshman at a Catholic high school, I was attending our first Friday mass, so naturally I sang my heart out. Suddenly, the principal, Sister Matilda, appeared by my side. She leaned over and said, “Mr. Godfrey, the Lord will not mind if you mouth the words.” —DON GODFREY Ocean Isle Beach, NC My 10-year-old grandson Sam was so excited. He had just gotten a saxophone, which he was learning to play for the school band. I watched proudly as he took the instrument out of the case, assembled it and positioned it around his neck. He played one note, then carefully reversed the…

Kevin walks into a bar in Boston and orders three shots of Scotch. He solemnly downs each one, pays up, then leaves. The next day, he does the same. On the third day, the bartender asks, “Why the three shots?” “Well,” says Kevin, “it’s one for me and one each for my brothers: Dennis in Seattle and Hank in Dallas. It makes me feel like we’re still drinking together.” But a month later, Kevin orders only two shots of Scotch. “I hate to ask,” says the bartender, “but did one of your brothers die?” “No, no,” says Kevin. “I’ve just decided to stop drinking.” —BARTENDERSBUSINESS.COM Once there was a man named Odd. All his life, he was teased and mocked because of his strange name. It got so bad that…

CROUCHING LOW, 9-YEAR-OLD Sigrún Anna Valsdóttir peers under a truck, the beam from her flashlight catching the glint of two small, shiny black eyes. It’s after dark, and as a member of the Puffling Patrol, she is on a mission to rescue a puffling—a baby Atlantic puffin. The black-and-white seabirds are beloved on Heimaey, one of Iceland’s many islands, and each year, as the baby birds leave the nest, residents set out to rescue those who become disoriented by the lights of the island’s only town. After a half-hour standoff, the puffling darts out from underneath the truck and into the cardboard box Valsdóttir has waiting. In the morning, the girl will release the bird off a cliff and watch it fly out to sea.…

You may think of ramen as college kid cuisine, but dressier versions of this noodles-and-broth dish, with toppings such as roast pork, fish cakes, bamboo shoots and poached eggs, blow the instant kind out of its bowl. Over the last few years in the United States, gourmet ramen restaurant options have jumped more than 30%, so you can likely enjoy this Asian sensation close to home. Chinese immigrants first brought the wheat noodle recipe to Japan, according to historian George Solt. In his book, The Untold History of Ramen, History of Ramen, he tells of a scholar from China during the 17th century who instructed the Japanese feudal lord he worked for to add pork and vegetables to his noodle soup. By 1910, the frst ramen restaurant in Japan, Rai Rai…

WE WATCH OUR salt and fat intake to protect our hearts. We exercise and take calcium to protect our bones. We slather on sunscreen to protect our skin. But what can we do to protect our eyes? Turns out, quite a lot. We asked experts what lifestyle steps people should be taking to protect their vision and eye health. Spring for some quality shades … “Protecting the eyes from ultraviolet light—sunlight—is very important,” says Esen Akpek, MD, an ophthalmology professor at Johns Hopkins University. “It’s one of the biggest things in our environment to have an impact on the eyes. Ultraviolet light has been shown to have an effect on cataract development and macular degeneration.” To shield your eyes, wear sunglasses certified to block out 99% to 100% of UVA…

Pulling the Right Strings Our kitchen is on the second floor with a deck outside, so my husband puts the trash bins beneath the deck with string tied to the lids. All we have to do is go outside, pull the strings so the lids open, drop the bags—and not miss. —BEVERLY CANNADY Locust Grove, GA A Flair for Flares One night, tired of getting up to fan our bonfire, I asked my friend if he had an electric leaf blower. “Yes?” he answered. I suggested using it to stoke the fire. The rest of the night he sat with the leaf blower, flipping it on whenever the flames needed reviving. It’s been our method since. —DONALD JENKINS Parma, OH “You've Got Mail” Our front door is 50 feet from…

I AM AN ANXIOUS TRAVELER. I arrive at airports and train stations extra early. I triple-check all my documents, and feel a tightness in my jaw, a slight clench in my stomach, until I’ve arrived where I’m going. Non-anxious people tease me for being a nervous Nellie. I used to feel bad about my anxiety, seeing it as irrational, weak. But not anymore. I could write a book on this subject—actually, I did: A Brief History of Anxiety (Yours and Mine). I’ve learned to respect my tendency to be hypervigilant. Recently, I was driving along a country road at the start of a long trip that would mainly be on a major highway. I began feeling that something could go wrong. What if I run out of gas? I worried,…

TV Look who’s back in the building—the Arconia, that is, the grand Upper West Side apartment building home to a wealth of eccentric residents and a suspiciously high body count. Season 1 began with Charles-Haden Savage (Steve Martin), Mabel Mora (Selena Gomez) and Oliver Putnam (Martin Short) returning to the Arconia on the night of another neighbor’s untimely passing. The unlikely trio, bonding over a shared interest in true crime, podcast their investigation. Fans already have a clue about Season 3: In the Season 2 finale, the lead actor of Putnam’s Broadway show collapses on stage and seemingly expires. Martin, Gomez and Short are all knockouts—scene-stealing is the real crime. (Season 3 streaming on Hulu Aug. 8) —Caroline Fanning…

IT WAS a sunny afternoon in June of I 2022 when Anthony Perry stepped off the train at Chicago’s 69th Street station. The 20-year-old, who worked nights in a grocery store, was on his way to see his grandfather so they could go look at a car Perry was thinking about buying. On the platform, two men were throwing punches. Then the unthinkable happened: The pair tumbled over the edge and onto the tracks. One man ended up on his back, fending off blows. Suddenly, he started bucking and convulsing. The aggressor straddling him leaped backward, bounded back up onto the platform and disappeared. The man had fallen atop the third rail, the conduit for the 600 volts of electricity that power Chicago’s L trains. As Perry and other horrified…

◆ “Hi, I’m Captain Amanda Smith. Yes, I’m a female pilot and, as a benefit, if we get lost on the way I won’t be afraid to stop and ask for directions.” ◆ “Please refrain from smoking until you reach a designated smoking area, which, for California, is Las Vegas.” ◆ “I’ve just been informed that my motherin-law has passed through security and will be boarding this flight shortly. If you all sit down fast, we should be able to get out of here before she arrives.” ◆ “Most of you already have your seat belts fastened. Now we will demonstrate how you did that.” ◆ “Ladies and gentlemen, I’d like to share some words with you that my father shared with me when I turned 18: Pack your bags…

CRAVING CAFFEINE? TRY DECAF If you love your coffee but worry about consuming too much caffeine, you will be reassured to know that research indicates that regular coffee is a low-risk stimulant. It might even offer some protection against type 2 diabetes and Parkinson’s disease. But it can also cause heartburn, jitters or insomnia. So if you are trying to quit or cut back on caffeine, try decaf. An Australian study shows that drinking decaffeinated coffee can alleviate withdrawal symptoms such as headaches, fatigue and irritability. This surprising result probably tapped into the placebo effect: Even when people knew they were drinking decaf, it looked, smelled and tasted like the real thing, which they associated with feeling alert and well. The Price of Procrastination More than just a lazy habit,…

FROM THE BOOK EDISON’S GHOSTS It’s possible that some people are just too smart for their own good. Or that some of history’s best-known brainiacs lacked good old-fashioned common sense. Consider these scenes from throughout history. Punked by Benjamin Franklin To give Franklin his due, he made groundbreaking discoveries in the field of electronics. He invented both battery (the word) and batteries (the thing) and came up with the concept of “positive” and “negative” charges. But this comes second to Franklin’s true electrical vocation: practical jokes. Picture the scene: It’s summer 1749 and you’ve been invited to a party at your good pal Ben’s house. You sit down, pick up your wine glass to take a sip … and are hit with an electric shock straight to the mouth. This…

Oprah and Gayle met as young journalists working for a Baltimore news station. Bert found Ernie wandering Sesame Street in 1969 and the roommates have been inseparable ever since. Han Solo freed Chewbacca from intergalactic slavers and earned a dedicated Wookie co-pilot along the way. You needn’t have driven off a cliff Thelma-and-Louise style to prove your loyalty to your own ride-or-die, but please go to rd.com/bestfriend to see terms and share your BFF origin story. It might appear in a future issue of Reader’s Digest.…

AS LONG AS I CAN REMEMBER, my mouth has been getting me into trouble. Growing up, I would say anything to get a laugh, no matter how crude or cutting. I used the gift of gab to get what I wanted from my parents (money, a later curfew) and to get out of what I didn’t want (chores, groundings). I was asked to leave four different schools, mostly because I talked too much, and every one of my report cards said some variation of the same thing: I’d do much better if I would just shut up. My mouth may have served me terribly as a student, but it set me up perfectly for a career in radio. In 2003, I launched a talk show on an AM station in…

Tidying up means dealing with all the “things” in your life. So what do you really want to put in order? —Marie Kondo, TIDYING EXPERT, IN THE BOOK MARIE KONDO’S KURASHI AT HOME If you get drunk and want to lie, you’re a fiction writer. If you get drunk and tell the truth, you’re a memoirist. And if you get drunk and want to lie on the hood of a car and look at the sky, you’re a poet. —Rebecca Makkai, NOVELIST, IN AN INTERVIEW WITH THE CENTER FOR FICTION Just as trees grow flowers and fruits, humanity creates works of art: the Golden Gate Bridge, the White Album, Guernica, Hagia Sophia, the Sphinx, the space shuttle, the autobahn, “Clair de Lune,” the Colosseum in Rome, the Phillips screwdriver, the iPad, the…

1. pedagogy n. ('ped-uh-goh-jee) A education principles B logical progression C controversial teaching 2. syllabus n. ('sil-uh-buhss) A tool for counting B outline of a course C place to study 3. didactic adj. (dy-'dak-tik) A related to Greek myth B morally instructive C imaginative 4. audit v. ('ah-dit) A serve detention B attend without credit C experiment 5. pedantic adj. (pe-'dan-tik) A suddenly realizing B concerning all students C overly formal 6. polymath n. ('pah-lee-math) A wide-ranging scholar B scientific genius C enthusiastic teacher 7. innumerate adj. (i-'noo-mer-uht) A ill-prepared B unskilled at numbers C infinitely wise 8. sophomore n. ('sahf-mor) A teacher’s aide B measure of brain waves C second-year student 9. polytechnic adj. (pah-lee-'tek-nik) A related to chemistry B many-sided C teaching applied science 10. elucidate v. (eh-'loo-si-dayt) A lecture incessantly B grade strictly C make clear 11. philistine n. ('fi-luh-steen) A agile debater B biblical scholar C ignorant person 12. rubric n. ('roo-brik) A study of circles B grading guide C visual learner…

Brand-New Book Alert! Introducing our latest keepsake collection, The Best of Reader’s Digest 2023. Inside are our most moving stories and dramatic tales, from everyday heroes to larger-thanlife characters, and from small moments to historical events spanning the past 100 years. It’s all here, plus our best jokes, cartoons, facts and fabulous new stories we’ve never published before. You’ll laugh. You’ll cry. You’ll want to read it again! See for yourself for just $10 at rd.com/EP23.…