[originaltext] This month Reader’s Digest is publishing its 1,000th issue. The

This month Reader’s Digest is publishing its 1,000th issue. The magazine boasts a mammoth circulation of 41 million worldwide, reaching 48 countries and is publishing in 19 languages. Recently, it held a gala party in New York City with a futuristic theme. The robot greeting partygoers to Reader’s Digest’s celebration of the publication of its 1,000th issue is not really high tech, just an actor hiding behind a wall with a microphone. And some of the futuristic trends showcased at this party don’t seem ail that new. The car of the future is no ingenious hybrid running on innovative fuel, it is a gas-guzzling Meroedes SUV and some of the furniture in the home of the future has a distinctly 1960s’ look.
  Reader’s Digest founders Dewitt Wallace and his wife Lila launched the magazine in 1922 with a mission: to help new immigrants learn how to become American citizens. They reprinted condensed articles from around the country. Articles that heralded the individual’s triumph over adversity, but in as few words as possible. Professor Don Ranly, head of the magazine department at the University of Missouri’s School of Journalism, says brevity was Mr. Wallace’s genius.