Science for Human(i)s(ts)
Written: Oct 27 '99 (Updated Nov 08 '99)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: fantastic art; well edited, designed and produced; accessible but often profound
Cons: too short; occasionally superficial to readers with particular domain expertise
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| sylloge's Full Review: Sciences The Magazine |
The Sciences is probably the best general science periodical, academic or popular, in the world.
Produced by the New York Academy of Sciences -- a diverse institution covering all areas of science from medicine to engineering, physics to linguistics, neuroscience to economics, computer science, anthropology, chemistry, psychology, mathematics, history and philosophy of science... (and I could go on, believe me) -- the magazine's coverage follows the mandate of its parent organization, and combines the best aspects of professional trade journals and commercial popularizers.
With ad-page count of less than 10%, the articles are printed continuously, from start to end, with no irritating "continued on page 143" instructions. (The drawback is that a typical issue is just under 50 pages.) Even better, each article is illustrated with art from museums and institutions around the world, with a special emphasis on New York's panoply of wonderful museums. The art director and design firm do a truly incredible job in their selections and presentation. (The cover design is also striking and easily recognizable.)
The well-placed (and well-printed) images can bring out aspects in the article that would otherwise have gone unnoticed, set the mood, emphasis points and even argue the author's case. In every issue there has been some particularly fine juxtaposition or harmony between the words and the image -- one which makes me outwardly smile in acknowledgement and pleasure in the cleverness or ingenuity.
And the most amazing thing about The Sciences is that every single article could be read and understood by a bright high school student. Untrained in inorganic chemistry, topology, plant physiology and most of the many topics which might be written about in a given issue, I can nevertheless read and enjoy every article (unlike, say, *Nature*, *Science* or even *Scientific American*, where I abandon most articles outside my areas of specific training after a few paragraphs). The unfortunate flip side is that those articles which cover areas where I have specialized knowledge have sometimes struck me as shallow.
Behind the fact that The Sciences is written and edited in such a way that it can be read by a general audience are some lofty and admirable goals: the democratization of knowledge, spread of scientific literacy and a commitment to integrating a love of the pursuit of education into our culture. It is not only excellent in those ways in which a magazine can be excellent, it is also *good* in those ways in which a magazine can be good.
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The Sciences has won several National Magazine Awards for General Excellence (among others) and deserves them more than any other publication I can imagine. Each issue contains one or two short editorials, several pages of letters, a half-dozen brief articles and notices, three or more essays, columns and comments, three feature articles and a few book reviews. It is published bimonthly.
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NOTE TO EPINIONS EDITORS: This magazine does *not* belong in the "Space & Technology" section (in fact, many of that magazines in this section do not belong here -- Red Herring? Shift? National Geographic? -- c'mon! Wake up!). How about a "general science" section? Hire a Library & Information Science intern or something . . .
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Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
sylloge
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Member: Stewart Butterfield
Location: Vancouver
Reviews written: 5
Trusted by: 6 members
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