There's a new serif in town

What has the world come to? Serif better than san-serif for readability you have got to be kidding me! Thats what I was saying to myself as Tom came to me to show me a little known and hidden fact in the doldrums of some of my most recent readings. Apparently serif fonts (you know the ones with the little hands and feet, the best known of the group would be the overused times new roman) are more readable than sans-serif fonts in long copy. The problem with this recent discovery is that this goes against everything I have ever been taught. Traditional design education teaches you that the less "effects" that a letter has the more readable it will be at small sizes and large amounts of copy. This however is not entirely the truth, sure some fancy magazine or catalogue that arrives on your doorstep that was designed by the most prominent designer in the U.S. can have sans-serif body copy all over it because who gives a shit that designer does what he wants and people love it, but for an entry level designer who is still learning the world of advertising and getting his feet wet in an industry that is overwhelmed by bad typography. It is not what you learned or what people tell you is right or wrong, instead it is about adaptation, molding yourself to your surroundings. In the particular field of design that i reside in at the moment I thoroughly agree with the fact that serif fonts work far better than sans-serif fonts for long copy because people read serif fonts on a daily basis and when they read something they like that comfort zone that exists when a character has little "hands" and "feet" on it to guide the eye in where it is to go next. Serif fonts are also used in many of our daily reading materials, i.e. books, newspapers, etc. Therefore when you send a customer something they are not necessarily excited about you have to use any means possible to get them into the text, even if it means setting it in a serif font to provide them with a comfortable means of reading 1200 words or however long the advertisement might be . I could not have come to this realization if I was stubborn and close minded though. I had to realize that everything I was taught and have come to learn through my experiences are valid and that based on this discovery my little designer toolbox just grew a little bit and although I do not only use serif fonts or only I have discovered that in serving the project correctly you really have to become subjective and instead of designing in your bubble of comfort branch out and try something new it might pull far better results than what you felt was aesthetically pleasing. Long story short dont write-off any font treatment until you have tried it, and take stock in what others have already tested.