Back in the 1960's my grandfather, who didn't have a high school education (farm raised, 1903-1994) had a subscription to Scientific American and would read the

Back in the 1960's my grandfather, who didn't have a high school education (farm raised, 1903-1994) had a subscription to Scientific American and would read them cover to cover. Starting when I was 7 or 8 he would talk about the articles with me while we were working on things, either in his shop or cutting timber or repairing things around the farm. He would ask probing questions about the subjects, look for implications, make connections to other things he knew, all the kinds of things you want a scientific mind to do. Despite a lack of formal education and wearing a pair of blue jean overalls and muddy wellington boots, with tools in his hands, he was a smart and erudite for his circumstances. He gave me his entire library when I was in my early teens. The first program I ever wrote, Conway's Life, was taken after a Martin Gardner article I read there. I credit those talks with my grandfather, and the articles I read, with a large portion of my being drawn to STEM and seeing it as "something for me". SciAm was once a great institution trying to spread knowledge of the explosion of scientific understanding that was happening at the time. I miss those days.