Exhibit 31.1
I, Thomas O. Ryder, certify that:

1. I have reviewed the quarterly report on Form 10-Q of The Reader's
Digest Association, Inc. for the quarterly period ended March 31, 2004;

2. Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue
statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary
to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which
such statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period
covered by this report;

3. Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial
information included in this report, fairly present in all material
respects the financial condition, results of operations and cash flows
of the registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this report;

4. The registrant's other certifying officer(s) and I are responsible
for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as
defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) and internal
control over financial reporting (as defined in Exchange Act Rules
13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f)) for the registrant and have:

      (a)  Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused
      such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our
      supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the
      registrant, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made
      known to us by others within those entities, particularly during
      the period in which this report is being prepared;

      (c)  Evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant's disclosure
      controls and procedures and presented in this report our
      conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls
      and procedures, as of the end of the period covered by this
      report based on such evaluation; and

      (d)  Disclosed in this report any change in the registrant's
      internal control over financial reporting that occurred during
      the registrant's most recent fiscal quarter (the registrant's
      fourth fiscal quarter in the case of an annual report) that has
      materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially
      affect, the registrant's internal control over financial
      reporting; and

5. The registrant's other certifying officer(s) and I have disclosed,
based on our most recent evaluation of internal control over financial
reporting, to the registrant's auditors and the audit committee of the
registrant's board of directors (or persons performing the equivalent
functions):

      (a)  All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the
      design or operation of internal control over financial reporting
      which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the registrant's
      ability to record, process, summarize and report financial
      information; and

      (b)  Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management
      or other employees who have a significant role in the
      registrant's internal control over financial reporting.

Date:  May 7, 2004

                                          /s/ THOMAS O. RYDER
                                             Thomas O. Ryder
                                   Chairman and Chief Executive Officer