A LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

LET US PUT SOME GRIT IN YOUR OYSTER

Ed Carr, editor of Intelligent Life, explains the thinking behind the new Autumn 2007 issue. Its appearance this month marks the relaunch of Intelligent Life as a quarterly magazine, under the motto, "Knowledge is pleasure" ...

From INTELLIGENT LIFE magazine, September 2007

WHEN I was a boy we used to go on holiday once a year, mostly to Cornwall or my cousins’house on the Norfolk marshes. Ice-creams, museums, shilling arcades, dog-eared paperbacks, sand castles, treks, everything had to be crammed into two weeks. As the years passed, British holidaymakers grew more adventurous. First came skiing, then the autumn break and weekends abroad. By the time I was a student, my life--at least in my father’s eyes--was entirely taken up by idleness.

As the holidays multiplied, their character changed. Culture, exertion and indolence each took their own slot in the timetable. People did not just holiday more, they holidayed differently.

I like to think that launching Intelligent Life as a quarterly, after three years as an annual, will have the same effect. We now have more chance to savour the things that have a place in even the busiest life. We are writing more often, and we will write differently.

So in the quarterly Intelligent Life, we have new sections with a fresh mix of pieces, a new design that gives a special place to the best photography, and a greater freedom to roam.

I hope you will still detect The Economist‘s curiosity, relevance and wit on our pages. And our purpose remains the same. Whereas our sister deals largely in politics and business--the public dimension of things--Intelligent Life looks at the ways people spend their time and money outside the office. Our territory is your personal life and everything that helps make it rewarding.

That’s not to say we are just another lifestyle magazine. We are much more than a catalogue of things to buy. We are lifestyle with substance. The oyster contains added grit.

The magazine starts with This Season, a crunchy selection of the best things to do and see and read over the next three months. Then comes Intelligence, our section of short pieces, which gives you insights and anecdotes on everything from fashion to philanthropy and shopping to blogging.

One of the exciting things about Intelligent Life is that we can allow the best journalism to run at length. In this issue we have The Economist‘s deputy editor, Emma Duncan, exploring the question of how much money to leave your children. We have a profile of the engineer-chef behind molecular gastronomy and an investigation into the swindle that has shaken the genteel world of classical music.

After the features comes Culture--where we pick out themes and ideas rather than adding to the mountain of reviews--and Out There, our travel section. Much travel writing is about “hit-and-run” tourism, about a product to be consumed. We want to get under the skin of a place. Each issue of the magazine will finish with the comedian Will Smith trying to master a new skill--this time, the five-string banjo.

In between editions, you can stay in touch at our website, www.moreintelligentlife.com, where we have blogs on culture, travel and the magazine itself, and you can post anything you have to say. You can also e-mail me at ewr@economist.com. I’d love to know what you think.

As you recover from your summer holiday and start thinking about the autumn break, I have one thing to add. Just as a good holiday takes a little preparation, so too does day-to-day life outside work. The more you know, the better it is. Knowledge is pleasure.