In 1872 an American monthly magazine named Popular Science was introduced into American Society. With its appeal to the general public, it gave its readers heads up on modern scientific concepts and breakthroughs within all areas of science. Technology for purposes of medical, automotive, luxuries, and little gizmos and gadgets were always discussed in the magazines articles. The catch phrase or subtitle for Popular Science is “The Future Now”, and it gives its readers ideas of what they can expect to see sometime in the future. Scientists’ ideas and inventions are discussed and explained on the level assumption that the readers have no scientific background and therefore the content is as watered down as possible to make it readable. Since then, in present day, Popular Science has not changed. After all these years, the magazine has printed the same results time and time again.
The front cover of the magazine always displays the main title in red color on a black lined background – mainly to catch the average person’s eye. The title is then followed by “The Future Now” in a small circle; also displayed in red. Then it briefly shows the main four articles talked about in that particular issue. For example, in the May of 2006 issue of Popular Science, the main photograph displays, “Laser Warfare: Scientists Race to Develop the Military’s First Real Ray Gun”, and there is a picture of a futuristic military aircraft with lasers shooting out of its main guns. This is the main attraction and appeal of the magazine. It obviously is enough to catch the average person’s eye and interests, however it seems to have a low demographic appeal.
Despite the title, it is not a particularly popular text as far as its audience size goes. It is a monthly paid subscription and is can commonly be found in Doctor’s offices and waiting rooms, so it is not likely to be seen in your average grocery market. With that said, the appeal is often geared toward middle-aged men and woman of about 30-47 years of age and future enthusiasts. It has more of a logos appeal. Of course there is always fun in fantasying over what the future would be like, such as robotic butlers and space colonies, but that does not account for common day reading literature for today’s society. As stated before, it is generated for an audience with no background in science, making the articles readable to this group of people. The younger generation can appreciate this magazine and find articles to be “cool” and “enlightening”, but many young teens and children have not even acknowledged its existence. More “popular” magazines include Cosmos, Teen, People, and Time magazine. What these offer are current topics and gossips of everyday life, which makes for a more paramount daily reading experience these days.
In conclusion, Popular Science is a decent magazine, which appeals to the average person, but has a small actual reading audience. Its cover is appealing to the eyes and curiosities. The articles inside contain hypotheses for technologies of the future. In my own experience, I am one of those future enthusiasts, and enjoy reading this magazine. I am a Technology major, so its appeal is greater to me than other magazines. Check out an issue yourself if you are feeling curious. The web address is www.popsci.com.
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Where did you see your first copy of Popular Science at? What are some of the new things that they showcase. It seems like a real interesting magazine.
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