I be a subscriber to National Geographic for fifteen year until last December when I let my subscription lapse . why ? three reason --  1 . the map . I use to love the great map that you would get all the time . well , the number of map per year keep drop to the point where it be hard to justify pay the amount of money for the subscription for fewer map . plus the map that be come out be less and less useful . be it really a `` map '' if its a picture of some dinosaur ? or picture of the `` native people '' that live throughout the land ? or any other picture for that matter ? I want a map I can use ! I want a map that I can hang up on a wall to find stuff when I need it , not a bunch of pretty picture . the last straw come in 2002 when the back of one of the map contain a advertisement for a truck !  2 . the story be no longer interesting . I mean , when you decide to pull a random zip code in the US to make a story out of it , it be no longer fun . National Geographic use to be about discover the new and unique . today it seem more appropriate to show you thing you probably already new .  3 . the cost . the cost of the magazine seem to keep go up , go up 15 % between 2001 and 2002 . I recognize cost keep go up , but this be ridiculous .  National Geographic tend to be one of those `` keep forever '' type magazine . well , what good be it for I to have this huge collection of magazine that I be not interested in read ? in short , National Geographic may be great for kid with school project , but a waste of money for adult .  i guess some people may think `` no ! you can not insult National Geographic ! '' but I call it like I see it . stop and think , be you read the magazine you be buy or do you just not want to stop the twenty year tradition of yellow bookshelf ?