Reading the Economist weekly

ysk1
Sun, 12 Nov 2006 18:23:32 +0000

Hello.

To improve my reading and writing skills, I’m trying to read the Economist weekly. I understand less than 40% of the whole magazine, not because its reading level is too high for me, but simply because my background knowledge and understanding in politics and economics are seriously lacking (I did extremely badly on social studies courses in high school). My unfamiliarity in areas of politics and economics greatly decreases my reading speed, making it hard for me to finish the magazine only in a week.
But when some science-related stuffs appear, I feel much less lost and my reading speed goes up dramatically. The problem is that amount of science-related stuffs in the magazine is very small compared to that of political and economical stuffs.
What can I do to eliminate my political and economical ignorance and illiteracy so that my reading the Economist will be less difficult, frustrating, and time-consuming, but more productive, worthwhile, and less-time consuming? I envy people who can actually “enjoy” reading this magazine weekly.
Please don’t tell me to switch to another type of magazine. Doing so will forever make me blind to politics and economics.

Thank you.