Science News (1-year auto-renewal)

 

 

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EDIT JAN 2011: I am going to say that Scientific American has gone downhill even further since I wrote this review, and I will likely look to American Scientist for science writing from actual scientists.

Science News is looking even more like a good overall source for journalistic science updates than Scientific American, because there is more science coverage, and Scientific American seems to be moving more towards the journalism end of science writing.

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First of all, if one wants a subscription to this publication, this method may not be the best way...and that's all I'm going to write about that subject.

Science News is put out by the Society for Science & the Public. As far as the nature of Science News, it is a good quality way to keep up with updates in various fields, but it does not go into tremendous depth, and the articles are not written by scientists. Scientific American has articles written by scientists through more than half the magazine, each article can be 6-8 pages long, and may be more in depth than many would like, though I personally like reading articles written by the actual scientists.

For this reason, I would suggest that Science News is better for the layman that wants to just keep a light touch on various scientific fields, and perhaps even for the scientist that wants to keep just as light a touch on fields not their own. Though the short articles are not written by scientists, the writers get information from scientists and many science journals.

The publication is issued every two weeks now, rather than the former weekly rate it had for many years. With the print publication, one gets access to the publication online, can access it wherever there is internet access, and this includes years of past issues.

I have a hard time deciding which is better between Science News and Scientific American. If I did not have the preference for reading articles written by scientists, I would probably choose this one instead.

Good quick scan of what's new in the sciences. I've subscribed for over 10 years It use to be a 16 page weekly that had short concise pithy summaries of the latest news in science with reference to original source. It was clearly the best summary for busy folk or those just preferring a quick titillating overview. In recent years they switched to a 32 page format every two weeks. At the same time the article quality seemed slip a bit getting more verbose and longer. The genre of the adds also changed. I'm guessing in response to economic pressures. In frustration, I looked for a replacement, but Science News is still the best broad field science overview I have found including science blogs available via Kindle. Most articles are still short at a paragraph or two to half a page with one or two longer feature articles. Relevant color photo graphs are also included. If you are at all interested, it is worth a try. I find articles that relate to work (Medical device R&D), that my wife, kids, friends and I discuss, and that relate to various books I'm reading. Besides entertaining for those interested in learning, I find it a nidus of serendipity.

I have been reading this magazine for more than 30 years. It was much better when it came as a short weekly. The new longer bi-weekly version is more difficult to read and does not hold my atention like the weekly did. But I continue to subscribbe. It would be great if Amazon could get them to come out with a Kindle version. How about it, Amazon?

Gerald N Rohwedder

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5.0 out of 5 stars a great read
I just received my first issue of Science News. It is so interesting. I'm reading it cover to cover. If you like science, this is the magazine to read.

Published 4 months ago by Donna L. Jamison

5.0 out of 5 stars Short and swet
I just read thsi magazine for the first time yesterday and I am going to subscribe today! I am not a scinetific person, but I am interested in science. I found this perfect. Read more

Published 5 months ago by gaffy

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