Discover magazine regularly keeps me informed about a broad range of scientific fields. The articles are written and presented in an organized well-edited style, with some terminology but yet still readily accessible to laymen and the curious (you will not feel that you are presented information in a watered-down form). Discover can practically satisfy anyone's interest. In it you will find material on archeology, anthropology and human origins, physics, astronomy, biology, chemistry, genetics, neuroscience, psychology, zoology, medicine, and much more. Articles about politics, environmental conservation, and technology are commonly found in Discover issues as well.

As many magazines do, Discover has permanent sections devoted to a particular type of information such as "Letter" section at the beginning of the magazine with readers' feedback on previous issue, "R&D" where you'll find concisely written briefings on scientific research and developments, "Discover Dialogue" section with a prominent researcher discussing important issues, "Reviews" section for books, "Resources" that provides an additional information about topics that are featured in an issue, "Emerging Technologies, "Vital Signs" with ER-like stories and other departments. And last but not least, featured articles (usually 6 total) are almost always a pleasure to read and it should be the main purpose of buying this magazine in the first place. I should also mention good illustrations, graphs, and some average-quality photography that Discover offers to its readers.

You should shop around for a good subscription price. A good place to start is amagarea dot com that acts as a search engine for magazine subscriptions from various magazine sellers and re-sellers. $10 should be an average price for this particular subscription.

All in all I highly recommend Discover. I am also subscribed to Scientific American and National Geographic. Discover stays firmly with them on the same level.

I was one of the charter subscribers in the early 1980's, and have watched this magazine go through a number of incarnations. All that other reviewers here say about the "People" approach, and the lack of pure science, is true...but it has always been true to a greater or lesser degree. I find the insight into issues as well as science interesting and informative. What has changed is the decidedly political tone the magazine has acquired in the last three years or so. This is dangerous for this reason: by the nature of the editorial policy, there is rarely hard science to stand behind the 'commentary' inbedded in an article. Highly contraversial issues, not infrequently, are presented as statements of fact. The tilt is 'green' and is most visible on issues involving the environment. Scientifically unproven but politically popular (with the readers, one presumes) sentiments and ideas are presented with token or no rebuttal and at times as unchallenged premises for some conclusion. This is not bad or good, but it isn't science-based debate and discussion, either. One begins to feel one is being 'educated' rather than 'challenged'. Sum: This is a magazine that will present a theory clearly and in English and is enjoyable to read...I still subscribe and will continue to...but not one that will make much effort to dispute or refute a theory that is editorially favored and/or 'reader friendly'.

Discover is well written well edited magazine for the scientificly curious. I like the format which covers news, papers and editorial statements. Discover is very readable and has topics that are both practical and theroetical in nature.

I love that it reports on all the sciences. As well it has a wide range of articles for many different levels of the scientific mind.

It challenges the reader but one can be farily non-scietnific and still read it. I us it as a sorce window into the sciences that I am not focused on such as biology and physics. But as well it has beautiful articles on chemistry and engineering. As well the issues are about interesting topics, which is on a genreal level. It is a great place to look if you want a genreal overview of new theories in the relm of science.

I like its dedicated sections like vital signs which are case studies about medical incidents.

As well I love the R and D news at the beginning. It is nice to see what is out there. The main articles are consise and not overwelming. As well you are often referred to article that are a priori and overwelming if you want to delve farther. I read each issue before the next one comes a rarity in the world of magazines.

Yes, the strongest appeal that this magazine has is its readability. The articles, however diverse they are, are not that hard to understand at all. I believe that even younger readers could read them without feeling offended and snobbed by the writing style. This is because Discover is intended for the general public. People who like a beefier telling of scientific issues should read Scientific American instead. But please note: I am not saying that Discover is kid-stuff. It is not.

Points of interest:
1.) In every issue, there is this Neuroquest, a very interesting one page "exploration of the inner workings of the human brain."
2.) The mag also offers Bogglers, a set of brain-teasers/puzzles to give those gray cells something to work on.
3.) And, Science Surfing, do I have to tell you what this is??

So far, all the Discover issues that I have have 92 pages, of which 17-18 pages were devoted to ads.

I like Discover because the percent of articles I care to read tends to be a little higher than Scientific American, which is one of other favorite magazines. Discover at times can be a little too pop culture for me, but there always seems to be some interesting little nugget of knowledge in each issue that keeps me coming back. This magazine helps to fill the void between popular weekly magazines (e.g. Newsweek, Time) and technical journals that require a Ph.D. to understand. In this great era of science and technology, our democracy requires that we remain informed of important developments across the many fields in science. This magazine helps us to do that, so it serves an important role.