Uncle Bob Martin
I started reading SciAm in 1974. I was 22. Like you, it was the highlight of my month. The articles were well written, not over popularized, made few apologies for deep technical discussion, and tried very hard to make the deepest scientific progress accessible. The change was gradual. Yes, I saw it during the Reagan years. The anti SDI rhetoric was transparent and disgusting. It wasn't science. It was political opinion. Then came all the social "science" nonsense, and the very obvious leftward shift of the magazine. I finally started skipping over the science just to get to Gardner, then Hofstadter, then Dewdney. But then even that died. Month after month the magazine would arrive. I'd look askance at it and wonder if, out of nothing more than past loyalty, I should even thumb through it. More often than not the answer was no. In the end, I cancelled the subscription. It took me far too long. What a loss. Thank God for Sabine.