[Completely OT] Magazines

[Heretic Apostate]

I'm working on my Amazon.com "wish list" (my birthday is coming up, as is Christmas, and for once, I don't want family and friends to have to guess what I want or just slip me cash... my list is up to 35 items ). Anyway, I've already placed one "gift that keeps giving" on my wish list: a one-year subscription to Military History (one of my favorite magazines).

Anyway, I'm looking at more science-minded magazines now, and was wondering what ones would be worth receiving (since there's no way I can afford to buy a subscription for myself):

Scientific American (the reviews say that it's more of a liberal soapbox now, but I'd prefer to hear it firsthand from you guys... note that I'm more liberal than conservative, but I'm looking for a science magazine... also, the reviews say it focuses on a narrow band of science--physics, chemistry, and the like--and is written in a very dry manner)

Discover (said to be an easy read, but quick to outgrow)

National Geographic (there's got to be more to this magazine than pictures of topless foreign women, right? the reviews say it's got a broader span of science than Scientific American, as well as being written more for the layman)

Too bad they don't have Omni...

Anyway, I'd like to get opinions on the three. I'm sure the number of tech and science folks on these boards must be disproportionately high.

Thanks!

 

[DM with a vengence]

Scientific American-I don't know about the Liberal soapbox thing, but I find that they have the best hard science of any of the magizines. Some stuff for the laymen, and then other articles with lots of complicated graphs labeled along the lines of "Lightyears from Emission Source (LES)" and "Neutrino Scatter Field (NCF)" that then go on to prove that due to the spikes in the NCF, the universe, is in fact, shaped like a dill pickle. If you like knowing a lot about physics, chemistry, and molecular biology, and possibly more than you understand, get Scientific American.

Discover-Medicine, pyschology, and enviomentalism. Discover tends to shy away from some of the harder areas, and instead focus on what affects our day to day lives instead of a new type of sub-atomic particle that means that the universe will keep on working the way it has been for the past billion years. Discover is about the middle in terms of difficulty. On the down side, I feel that the quality of the articles has been decreasing over the past few years, although that just may mean that I know more than their giving me.

Natural Geographic- The name says it all. Nature in far away places. While it definetly has the best photography, I don't care much for the great outdoors and so I recently stopped renewing my subscription. If you like animals and anthropology, then get National Geo, but otherwise give it a miss.

 

[Teflon Billy]

I'm with DM with a Vengeance. I've nevernoticed a particularly liberal bent to Scientific American, I think it's a fine magazine with good science.

 

[Cardinal Aidan]

The criticisms about Sci Am are nothing new, and have a lot to do with the environmental stories they've published. They actually dared to go against the big lie that environmentalism was bad science. They did much better than some of the "harder" journals that gladly accepted some studies that can only be classified as fraud.

Aside from that, I think it has a good mix of hard and "pop" science...accessable both to the layperson and a degreed scientist. My one complaint is an editorial "voice" and writing style that leaves me cold. That said, I would dearly love for them to release a multii-cd archive ala the National Geographic one.

Discover's quality went noticeably down a few years back, and seems to have come back. Its still not quite to the level it was when first started in the 80s, though.

National Geographic is a classic...but seems to average only one interesting story an issue. I prefer to glance through them once or twice a year at the library. They're invaluable as gaming references, though. Their map cd-archive set should be on every GM's shelf, even if the maps could have been better scans.

 

[Shadowdancer]

National Geographic is good if just for the maps. They seem to do a special map every other issue. And it's full of little details you can use to bring parts of your campaign world and adventures to life, and make it all more memorable for your players.

 

[Bagpuss]

Can you get "New Scientist" thats pretty good, goes into enough detail to be used for roleplaying and distribes most stuff in a way that you don't have to be an expert in the particular field to understand it.

 

[Cardinal Aidan]

Consider this a second for New Scientist (and I'm ashamed I didn't suggest it before). Unfortunately, its a weekly (or biweekly) from Britain, so it may be a bit pricey for a subscription.

I'd also tentatively recommend MIT's Technology Review. It has some interesting biases at times, depending on the writer (fairly socially liberal on one hand, while strongly pro-tech corporations on the other), but is usually a solid read. Another good one to scan in the library.

I'm also suprised to find myself suggesting Wired. I haven't liked many of the changes of the past few years, but the issues from the last few months have pleasantly suprised me. Now that the dot-com exuberance is over, and they've dropped the idea of being a geek Esquire, its becoming an informative magazine, and there are some very big names writing for them now.

 

[EOL]

Since Omni isn't an option, I doubt the New Scientist, or MIT's Technology review is, or for that matter Nature, which is what I was going to suggest. I have a subscription to Sci Am and consider myself more of a libertarian than a liberal or a conservative, and I've never felt a piece was too political, plus at a convention I went to Larry Wall (creator of PERL) used the current Sci Am in his "State of the Onion" speech. Though it take a really big geek to get excited about that...

 

[Furn_Darkside]

Salutations,

I always found Popular Science a good place to steal ideas from. They report on a lot of experiments and prototypes being tested out- good stuff for a modern game or even a fantasy one if you are playing high fantasy.

It also has some decent articles in there on a wide range of subjects.

FD

 

[ColonelHardisson]

I really don't see the "liberal soapbox" thing for SciAm either. It's a good magazine.

Discover is also pretty good, and in the last few years has had a lot of very interesting articles concerning time and space that have been fascinating to read.

National Geographic is a great magazine. I get it pretty regularly. The photography is justifiably praised, and can be used as game aids. The maps that come with it every couple issues or so are almost worth the price of the magazine alone.

I think Omni has been gone since it folded a few years back, having gone to an online edition. It was one of my favorite magazines. I remember very fondly articles like the ones on terraforming Venus and Mars, and the one on extending the human lifespan. Too bad it's gone.

I enjoy Popular Science and Popular Mechanics. Both often have articles and news items that could be useful for gaming, especially modern/near-future settings.

Hey, if you like Military History, check out Sea Classics magazine.