Discover

Kids Discover
$26.95
I am surprised to see the low average rating on this magazine. I think it is fabulous! The issues are not thick, but remember there are no advertisements!! The topics cover information that may or may not be covered in school history and science classes. The editors understand the magazine's target audience (~7-13 years old), and the articles are accessible, but not dumbed down. Each page features colorful photographs, maps, and drawings. The back issues are useful resources for school projects.

Discover's 20 Things You Didn't Know About Everything: Duct Tape, Airport Security, Your Body, Sex in Space...and More!
$16.95
I had enjoyed the feature in the Discover Magazine, so I took a flyer on the book. Overall, the book goes pretty fast as the nature of the book make for perfect pre-bedtime or bathroom reading (and spare me your Seinfeldian horror). But the topics are uneven in quality and content, some leaning the needle towards "filler". The problem for me was the price, I don't feel the value is there at this price point. It would be a great $7 book though.

Smithsonian
$59.88
I purchased a subscription to the Smithsonian for my parents who are retired and living WAY up in the mountains. They have remarked several times how much they enjoy it and specifically refer to articles they have read. It's the only gift I've ever gotten them that they rave about. They get one every so often so it's a gift that keeps on giving all year long (and gets me out of trouble if I only manage to get a call in on a birthday, Mother's Day, Father's Day . . .). It's a great magazine, different, intelligent and I enjoy reading it whenever I come across one. Wish I thought to get myself a subscription but. . . .

Scientific American
$59.40
I have been a subscriber for more than twenty years, but for several years now I have seen the magazine moving more and more to the left. Where climate change is concerned the staff of S A appears to consider it settled that human civilization is responsible. I never see any articles that consider evidence such as the earth goes through periodic cooling and warming phases or that the sun is going through a warm phase (as evidenced by the fact that Mars is getting warmer, too).

I would prefer to see objective evidence on both sides rather than articles that presuppose, when there is evidence to the contrary, that one side of the argument is correct.

I will let my subscription expire and find a source of objective, hard, science.