I Am A Scientific American

I was first introduced to Scientific American at an airport. I was stuck in Minneapolis for a three hour layover, and was facing the prospect of three hours in the air after that with no entertainment. I decided to purchase a magazine or two to pass the time.

This would be a good time to mention I have my B.S. in Biology, and am an avid fan of the sciences. This no doubt influenced my decision on which magazines to purchase. I have no idea what the other magazine I bought was, but one of them was Scientific American. That purchase started a love affair that lasts to today. Here is my review -

Price - You can expect to pay $4.99 per issue, or you can subscribe for $34.97 for a year, or $64 for 2 years. If you do enough research on the internet and magazine drives you can generally find a subscription for $24.97 (I did). This is small change for all the up to date scientific info you get out of this magazine.

Magazine Construction / Durability - The magazine is bound with staples in the spine, which means one wrong move and you'll be finding pages all over your house for a month. The cover is actually made of a pretty good grade of paper, and seldom rips. The pages are on the higher end of the spectrum with respect to durability.

Number Of Inserts - In my latest issue there was 1 insert for a book club that wrapped around the spine. It is perforated, so it is easily removable with no damage to the staples. There were 4 subscription cards placed throughout the magazine as well.

This is more inserts than I would like, but in the scheme of things it's pretty good. Anyone who has thumbed through a sports, entertainment, news magazine knows that this is a below average number. Don't even get me started on fashion / women's magazines... they have the same number in the first 5 pages.

Advertisement Frequency - This is a magazine, and they have to pay their bills. There are quite a few ads, but they are arranged in such a way as to be as unobtrusive as possible. They are clustered toward the front and back, where a lot of the one and two page features are. When you are in the meat of the magazine you see very few. This is convenient for when you are engrossed in an article and don't want to be bothered by ads.

Range of Topics - This is one of the strengths of this magazine. It covers very wide range of topics. It's not just the physical sciences, it is so much more. I could talk and talk, but an illustration will be more persuasive - Here is a random sampling of the topic of 5 articles from the current issue.

-The importance of white matter in the human brain (Anatomy and Physiology)

-When Futures Markets Prove More Accurate Than Polling (Social Science with sprinklings of contextual political science)

-A speculative article on the potential for weapons in space (military / space technology hybrid)

- The potential future in regards to marrying robots (Robotics, future ethical dilemmas)

- Sight returning to cavefish for the first time in a million years (Biology)

As you can see the topics are broad enough there is something for everyone.

Regular Features

Letters - This is like a regular mailbag, but on performance enhancing drugs! The question the writers pose are very observational and intelligent. Even better they often have responses from the original author, who either rebutts the attack, or answers the question. It is really well done, kudos to the readers of the magazine for making this one of the highlights of the magazine.

50, 100, 150 Years Ago - This is an interesting little feature. They take developments from the various branches that occurred the month of the issue 50 year ago, 100 years ago, and 150 years ago. It is interesting how some of the 100 and 150 year old pieces are still relevant today.

Updates - This is just what it sounds like. It is an insightful little feature that tracks very recent developments in various scientific fields. These are quick brushovers, they are interesting but not generally real informative.

News Scan - This is a feature that scans the news of the world and puts it in a scientific context. These articles are generally about a half page to a page in length, and contain a satisfying amount of info on the subject in question.

Opinion - The editors give their opinion on timely topics. They also have some guests give opinions on other subjects, including a skeptic of some sort in general. This is a nice break from the pure research, facts and science of the rest of the magazine. You get to read some opinion, which is nice.

Working Knowledge - An everyday (or not so everyday) object is broken down, and described in lengthy and very technical detail. It is an interesting segment that I never fail to learn something from.

Ask The Experts - A reader has a question answered by an expert in the field of the question. Not real long or substantial, but always interesting.

Fact Or Fiction - A myth (or myth like fact) is looked at and evaluated on a granular level by an expert and evaluated for accuracy.

Overall - This is a great magazine, easily the best magazine I am aware of. It has articles written by experts in the field, lots of great information and illustrations. The articles go into a great deal of detail, but there is usually a small block on the first page with a summary of the important info to make it easier to follow. The ads manage not to be too frequent, and inserts are kept to a minimum.

If you are looking for a magazine that will truly expand your mind, then look no further subscribe now and thank me later.