A Treasure Trove for the Extremely Curious

Ok, maybe i'm a little bit of nerd, but isn't there a little geek in all of us? This magazine is great if you dabble in the sciences or are just really curious. I have not come across another magazine, or book for that matter, which makes technical dry science as accessible to the layperson.

I have been subscribing to SA for 8 years now, ( I am only 23, so that is a hugely long time). Each year i debate whether i want to spend $24 on my magazine, this debate lasts approximately 3 seconds as the answer is always yes.

I used to want to go into science professionally, and the magazine helped me feel that i was keeping up with current science as well as learning different research techniques. The subject matter was always fascinating to me even as a highschool student. As i have gotten older my interests have changed a little, and i decided that a career in research science was not for me. But i still have that spark of curiosity that needs nourishment. I have just enough background to get my foot in the door, and then SA takes it from there with pictures and diagrams and truly amazing writing.

The magazine covers a variety of hard scientific topics such as molecular biology, physics, and ecology, as well as social scientific topics such as archeology and cognitive science. This is what has kept me coming back even as my interests have changed. There is always an article that piques my interest and exercises my brain. If i am not in the mood to plow through a highly technical article on a new laser technology, i can always relax with a thought provoking article on the society of the ancient Mayans.

In addition to diverse articles, you also get little mini segments like "The Amateur Scientist" which gives instructions on how to build neat little gadgets out of household items (look out MacGuyver), and "50, 100 & 150 Years Ago" where they give you snippets of articles from Scientific American magazines that were published in this month 50, 100 and 150 years ago (SA has been around for a very long time), and my favorite "By the Numbers" which takes a particular statistic and elaborates on the findings with graphs and critical analysis. (recently there was a column on the correlation between asthma and city living). It is one of the few magazines that i can truly read cover to cover each month and not get bored. Every once in a while there is an article on something that doesn't really interest me, but then i have the rest of the magazine to read.

The photography is superb, colors and details to die for. (I have a few pages of past issues decorating my walls.) Diagrams and illustrations make even the most dense stuff jump off the page. And the writing is excellent. All of the articles are written, not by professional writers, but by researchers in the field, just like a professional journal. When you think scientist, you don't usually think of great writers, but somehow, through editing or just good screening, SA manages to find experts in their fields who can write with grace and make their topic accessible to almost anyone.

Even the ads are great! Most of them are targeted to a more intellectual audience so you end up with higher quality ads for things like mp3 players and stuff that you don't know what it is, but the pictures are pretty cool. As far as price goes i think it's a bargain even at newsstand prices ($4.95). Any other scientific journal runs at least two or three times that for subscriptions. And you get pictures! Customer service is also top notch. Any time i have had a problem with my subscription (twice because of moving and post office problems) they have bent over backwards to make things right.

I can't think of a single thing i would change about this magazine. They even have an excellent web page which is a good place to start if you are thinking about a subscription. (www.sciam.com). So if you are one of the curious ones who is always looking for new things to learn, this is the magazine for you.