The New York Review of Books Reviews

by Gireeshy

I regret buying a digital only subscription for my new iPad. My login isn’t recognized on the website, so I guess I’ll need two accounts and subscriptions if I want to access it on my computer? The table of contents view is useless, as another reviewer mentioned, because I don’t know what any of the articles are about or who the authors are. In the reader mode, it removes the block quote typography found in the print/PDF version, so it’s hard to tell when you’re reading an excerpt from the work. Worst of all, it does not support split screen mode on iOS 14, so I can’t take notes while I read an article, which is just ridiculous. It’s easy to copy text, though, so I guess the developers just want me to steal their content wholesale by pasting it into another app so that I can enjoy it the way I’d like. I would send these notes to them before writing a poor review, but since I don’t use the native Apple Mail app, they won’t even let me use their in-app feedback form. Garbage app that looks pretty for casual readers.

by Dislike Latest Update

And customer services sent reply that did not address issue. Just gave same instructions as I already had to get account working.

App itself is problem. I can sign on to website as usual. But app says can’t verify account or when I used account number to sign in it say “we are experience some problems, check back later.”

Ridiculous.

by Nizhni

I find it almost impossible to make effective use of TheNewYorkReviewofBooks. This is a revision of a previous negative review. If anything whatever changes have been made over the past year have only rendered it even worse. In the past, I could at least access archived issues with relative ease, but now having just today (Dec. 7, 2019) returned to TheNewYorkReviewofBooks after a long absence, I’m finding it impossible to find any archived material.
I have been using apps for many years, specifically apps connected with various publications and while there is some variation in quality, I have never experienced anything like the problems I have with this one. It’s clear from other recent comments that I am not alone in having serious problems with the NYRB app. Unfortunately, the on going problems with your app suggest either incompetence on the part of whoever is responsible for its operation or near total contempt for digital subscribers.

by Emarg1

I was instructed by customer service that purchasing TheNewYorkReviewofBooks would allow access on my kindle. After purchasing, I found out I was given incorrect information. I reached out to customer service three times, and they have yet to answer my basic question.

by Harry1906

I cannot despite working with your staff gain access to the daily offline comments. They photos appear on my screen but when I open them there is just a few lines of print. No one seems able to help, although I am told many readers are having the same problem. Why can’t you fix it?

by Sneadhearn

new subscriber. on iPhone, each time you open TheNewYorkReviewofBooks it takes a multiclick nonintuitive process to get a useful menu of articles — and then the red “lock” icons show that you have been logged out (against your will). so you have to start an article, get interrupted in the middle to log in. iPad app seems to work better. An awkward and frustrating design that’s far below the curve

by Ed Tenny

Buggy, confusing, cumbersome. Thinks I’m a new user every time I try to log on. Only way to restore access clearly is by entering one’s account number, which is on the print copy....which is safely at home when I’m traveling and want to use TheNewYorkReviewofBooks . Usually fails to recognize my email/username even though I’ve used it on TheNewYorkReviewofBooks many times before. Junk.

by BagatelleEA

The content is great but it’s difficult to read long articles in small text size. The ability too adjust text size is a bread-and-butter feature in most apps and it shouldn’t be this hard to make it happen.

by Newhavenmaven

The content of NY Review is excellent. And generally TheNewYorkReviewofBooks is too. However the table of contents is a bad example of style defeating content.
Unlike the matching page in the print editions, this Contents page does not tell you what books are being reviewed or who wrote the review. All we get is an image, which rarely tells us anything, and the name of the article. Not the name of the book. The article name rarely means anything unless you know what is being reviewed.
Please fix this. As it is, the Contents page tells you nothing about what is in each issue. It is really quite ridiculous.

by SupaHost

Very easy to use, intuitive design. My only request is for the developers to add a dark mode for nighttime reading.

by Andrewbp677

The previous version was highly unstable—it just crashes after a few seconds of reading an issue. So it was unusable.

Now this version comes out and it looks great. Except I can’t login (and yes, my credentials are correct). Well, I guess we’ll just have to wait another 6 months or year for it to be fixed.

***

The login issues seem to have been fixed. For some reason I had to create a new login, so now I have a login for TheNewYorkReviewofBooks AND the website. This isn’t convenient but it isn’t the end of the world. I wish the devs would have explained this...

Now, about the good things. Unlike some other users, I’m personally thrilled about the new functionality. Adding adaptive screen size support is a huge aesthetic upgrade (no more letter boxing on iPhone X devices), and support for things like being able to switch between a text and PDF view is great. I also like how they’ve incorporated some of the NYer Today app’s features like a story stream for new features. It makes it a much more engaging experience. Brilliant job!

by Bewat

I left NYRB a few years ago because TheNewYorkReviewofBooks was so clunky. Great to see this new version with full accessibility, including a PDF of the magazine, page by page.

by BNoonan

TheNewYorkReviewofBooks is simple to navigate, the articles are displayed with a crisp, clear font, and there are some clever features that I can see will come in handy. I haven’t yet explored to see if there’s a decent search engine to find articles in the archive — I hope there is.

by Eastern Fleet

NYRB is the place to discover what’s happening not only around the World
but in Science and Technology.
one will find wonderful reviews of
Books you should be reading as well
as World Politics.

by Boblobolo

...to link to my print subscription

by Howard Greybeard

I have been following the New York Review of Books for over forty years. In that time, the NYRB has provided me with windows to countless worlds.
As a Foreign Service Officer, I recommended the NYRB to those who wanted the breadth of knowledge needed both to pass the entrance exam and to serve in postings ranging from consular work in Pakistan to negotiations on Kosovo independence.
Without the NYRB, I would feel less prepared to meet the intellectual challenges of a career in the Foreign Service.

by Ferrell55

I could do without some of the publications I subscribe to but not NYRB. And TheNewYorkReviewofBooks gives me access anytime anywhere.

by BVB98

TheNewYorkReviewofBooks is garbage. The NYR should change developers. You can’t retrieve a password that was created on another device. “Sorry, but something went wrong.” That’s the notice you get no matter how many times or methods you try. Come on. It’s 2021. This isn’t hard.

by Ritzenh

That says it all. I can’t access the web by “clicking” where prompted on my iPad. Hope that gets addressed during the current issue!

by Henry Hermes

The New York Review is, and has always been, a source of scholarly reflection on the times in which we live. It’s indispensable and unequalled in the quality of its authors and their chosen topics. Thanks, for this respite inn a time of trouble.

Particularly.

by Djr Brosi

After logging in I have no access to NYRB content, which is available via my same credentials in a browser. It becomes evident reading other reviews that this problem has existed for many months with no response from the publisher.

Apple, TheNewYorkReviewofBooks does not work. Please remove as abandoned.

by James R. Brennan

Garbage app. Paid full 3 year subscription, which works fine on browser, but despite multiple emails to the subscription services, there is no movement to make TheNewYorkReviewofBooks accessible to new subscribers. Crazy that this can’t be fixed!

by Blue Rondo A La Turk

The new design is more cumbersome than before. Grid layout and offline download capability all confusing if even possible like the previous app. Time to go back to the web version and paper mail subscription.

by N|ckname

TheNewYorkReviewofBooks is one of a long series of mIserable NYRB failures.
it is apparent tHe designers are trapped in models not connected with sustained reading For one thing there is no way to enlarge size of font. you have to use commands by trial and error.

it has been a long weary trail for those who just want to enjoy a wonderful journal. take a look at New Yorker, NY TIMES, Scientific American, Atlantic. stop your spiral of ineptitude.

by Chompweenie

Email and password as well as email and zip do not work. Definitely disappointing given these complaints go back months. I see that TheNewYorkReviewofBooks was last updated less than a week ago - cannot imagine what these developers are shipping when no one can even use TheNewYorkReviewofBooks ...

by KGSnow

I switched my NYRB subscription to digital so that I can use TheNewYorkReviewofBooks to download issues for off-line reading. The problem is that it doesn’t work. As with other reviewers, the username/password that I use on the website doesn’t work on TheNewYorkReviewofBooks . No one at either the NYRB or Zinio is able to help with the problem.

by Aileverte

I really love being able to view articles the way they are printed on the page, especially as I travel a lot I now rely on the digital subscription.

Issues I sometimes encounter:
* need to delete and reload an issue because upon opening it’s blank
* sometimes difficult to launch the “web” view

Features I wish TheNewYorkReviewofBooks had:
* a scrapbook - to save articles I wish to return to, for easy access
* ability to copy text from the “print” view or look up unfamiliar terms in dictionary without having to retype them

by 16 Tons

Possibly the most hassle-free setup of any app I’ve used.