Culture | Dying species

Inside HYMAG, the world’s largest collection of magazines

Its founder hopes to digitise the 150,000 volumes for the benefit of future generations

EVEN AS A child, James Hyman could not bear to throw away his copies of the Beano. Later, when working for MTV—first as a press officer compiling the day’s clippings, then as a researcher working on behalf of the hosts—he found a reason to seek out and acquire yet more magazines. “What I needed was new information: I couldn’t just regurgitate press releases,” he says. “That’s when I ramped up my collecting.”

Discover more

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola looks pensive with fans blurred in the background.

Pep Guardiola, football’s greatest coach, is in a bind 

A serial winner is learning how to lose 

Someone reading a book upside down

The Economist’s word of the year for 2024

The Greeks knew how to talk about politics and power


This illustration shows a cracked egg, with its yolk and egg white spilled onto a flat surface. Two halves of the brown eggshell are placed on either side of the spill, and the yolk forms a triangle-like shape.

What do feta, cucumbers and cottage cheese have in common?

Social media and the internet are changing how people cook and relate to food


Germany’s former chancellor sets out to restore her reputation

But her new memoir is unlikely to change her critics’ minds

The best books of 2024, as chosen by The Economist

Readers will never think the same way again about games, horses and spies

What to read to understand Elon Musk

The world’s richest man was shaped by science fiction