When I was young I spent hours-n-hours poring over National Geographic magazines at home and at school, and later Omni and Smithsonian that my Dad subscribed to. Ok, Sports Illustrated too, but only because it was there.
I hope to build up a collection so hopefully our boys (8 and 3.5) will eventually find them as engrossing as I did.
I subscribed to NG and Smithsonian…a steal at about $15/year for each. I’d love to find a couple more but need some ideas.
Mental Floss
Science News. Bi-weekly. Takes a few hours to read carefully cover to cover. Written for a smart, curious teenage to college age audience. I think it’s about $100/year. One of the best subscriptions you can buy.
edit: BTW - that includes online access.
Playboy
Hey, I was always thankful for Dad’s subscription! But that was pre-Internet.
Never heard of it…getting it!
Whoo…that’s a little steep but worth considering*. I enjoy the articles from New Scientist online. Looks like I can get a year for $25. Anyone comment on the print edition?
ETA * $49.95/yr!
I don’t know your politics, I’ve subscribed to both Smithsonian and Mother Jones over the years. They make me think.
Mother Jones can be a little TOO adult, but might lead to discussions. 
Sorry. I generally subscribe for 2 years at a time so that’s probably why I screwed that up.
New Scientist I think is $100 or so per year (but I’m probably wrong about that too). Anyway, I love them as well but they try to punch up their stories to make them more umm . . . ‘interesting’ I guess you’d say.
Science News is much more professional in their approach but I think NS is just as good if not better in many ways. SN tends to cover ‘safe’ stories where the science is more clear cut. NS isn’t afraid to go out on the bleeding edge and do a little speculating. As long as you know that and keep it in mind, it’s also a wonderful source.
edit: also, I’d say the writing for SN is consistently the best of ANY science publication out there (directed at lay people). NS is very good but I have to say that sometimes their articles don’t really hang together very well. You will rarely if ever see that with SN.
The New Yorker
My parents have had a subscription since before I was born. It’s always been sitting around my house.
When I was young I read it for the comics. In high school, I read it for the non-fiction. Later in university, I read it for the fiction.
Catchy covers. The ads were always interesting to peruse too.
Opinionated but thought-provoking.
Wonderful magazine.
Scratch that…$25/quarter. Science News wins.
I was thinking about The New Yorker earlier this morning! I thought it may be a bit much for even an 8 year-old, I remember enjoying it in high school. Still worth considering, though.
Seconding the mention of Mental Floss.
The Week is a good general news magazine. Not a lot of depth but it gives you the basics of current events.
If you’re looking for more depth, there’s The Economist.
Popular Science and/or Popular Mechanics.
Ahhh DAMN! How did I forget those? :eek: One of my favorite things about the barber shop…
Mental Floss]
Skeptic
Esquire
I also subscribe to the National Enquirer for uhhh . . . balance. Yeah. The whole yin-yang thing. [looks to see if anyone is buying that]
Maybe a strange idea, but have you thought of putting a little basket on the bathroom wall? Great for storing magazines and getting people to leaf through them and get interested enough to want to read more, elsewhere. 
Best is a wire basket like this one.. It keeps magazines off the floor for easy cleaning and prevents them getting wet.
I often buy a couple of less-then-three-year-old National Geographics at Goodwill and them keep them a couple weeks in the basket, after which I toss them because of the possible ick factor (even though magazines in the bathroom are far more sanitary then the bathroom light switch and the doorknob, which people clean far too little) .
Wired magazine is fantastic. It’s not just about technology, as many people think. Just about every other issue has something that makes my jaw drop. Plus, there are lots of issues with puzzles or interesting infographics that make them worth holding onto as a reference.
Fast Company is a good business mag. But it’s usually focused on trends. Not sure there is much point to hanging on to old issues.
Into the outdoors/hunting? I’d rank them as follows:
*When Bill Heavey retires this will slip to #2.
**American hunter and Playboy are both great in that they haven’t changed their format basically ever. Reading the Playboy Adviser or American Hunter’s “Armed Citizen” takes you right back in time. Very nostalgic.
We had subscriptions to US News and World Report, the Atlantic, and the Economist. Couldn’t complain. When I was really young the house we moved into had HUNDREDS of backcopies of Readers Digest in boxes dating back to the mid-70’s. My parents wanted to toss them but for whatever reason, 8 year old me really liked reading them. It was like going through a time machine. The ads, the reader-subscribed stories, even the writing style. Took me about 3 years to skim through all of them and toss them. That said, I would not suggest subscribing to Readers Digest.
When I visit my mom I stop and get some tabloids and put them out on her coffee table. Drives her nuts.
Games magazine - they even have a kid version now. I received a subscription on my 10th birthday, loved it.
I liked National Geographic as a kid, but the only thing I’ve stayed subscribed to since I was 10 (I’m now 25) is Sunset magazine. It combines travel, cooking, gardening, and home topics specific to the West and is localized based on your area- so mine mostly gets Seattle in the special inserts for instance.