Aarp The Magazine By May Monten on Dec 19, 2007 - Updated Oct 15, 2011

The worst thing about this magazine is that you will know, if you get it, that you have officially become an Old Fart.

When you turn 50, AARP will track you down and send you one of their dreaded invitations to join. Once you get done making gallows-humor jokes about your invitation, you'll see it's actually a good deal. They offer discounts on a lot of stuff, do a lot of lobbying, and send you this magazine, all for $12.50 a year.

And the magazine's actually not bad. They have a crossword puzzle by Merl Reagle and lots of short articles on health and nutrition and exercise and money and relationships and old-fart celebrities.

The magazine seems aimed mostly at baby boomers like myself, more than at my parents' generation, and most of the people they profile are far more active than the "retired" in the organization's name would suggest. Some of the ads, though, for sickness-related items provide a weird contrast to the articles showing vigorous people doing things like windsurfing and kayaking.

On the cover, it says it's the "World's Largest Circulation Magazine." That must be because they send it to every member, and they're a huge organization, but I never would have guessed it.