I've been a huge fan of Smithsonian Magazine forever (literally) but this month's issue really blew my mind. You couldn't ask for a better lit magazine then this one - it seems to be taking up where American Scholar sadly died off in the wake of Anne Fadiman's leaving.

Don't even get me started on how much I mourn her tenure there.

Smithsonian has always had a huge eclectic mix of articles but the December issue is really very literary-heavy. Consider the following:

Paul Theroux on raising geese, why March of the Penguins was creepy, ("With this travesty of science people try to put a human face on the animal world"), and E.B. White, who also raised geese but dressed them in people's clothing. Weird doesn't begin to cut it on that one.

Preservationists are struggling to save and maintain the vast collections of manuscripts in Timbuktu. Combining equal parts travel and history this is a great piece on something most westerners (and even Africans) seem to know little about. "Local archeologists are chasing down volumes buried in desert caves and hidden in underground chambers and archivists are reassembling lost collections in libraries." It's a mad rush against dust and the ravages of time (centuries in a tomb will wreak havoc on paper), but some amazing things are being discovered and appreciated in Mali.

Peter Beard's impact on the dying elephants of Kenya is revisited - along with yet another teaser for the insanely expensive Peter Beard. I'm so depressed about this book. Why or why won't someone publish an affordable retrospective of his career??

Tony Hillerman discusses his hometown and why he loves it while there is also a huge sweeping look at writer Henry Adams, "Man of the Century".

And did you know they have a book blog where books are recommended by the magazine's staff? Currently up is an interview with Mark and Delia Owens, whose Secrets of the Savannah I reviewed last summer. It's a wonderful look at elephants in Africa - and the difficulties at making a difference for wildlife. Highly recommended for the naturalist in your family.

Or better yet - just get them a subscription to the magazine. I am always impressed with at least one article in here each month and then there are issues like this one that just overwhelm me. It's great stuff and I think gets overlooked by a lot of readers (and writers) because it seems to stodgy (National Geographic also gets overlooked). You can't always be edgy - sometimes you just settle for good writing on various subjects.