I lost interest in NG since they dumbed content down and concentrated on political correctness and being on the "right" side of the political spectrum instead of providing interesting, deeply researched and meticulously planned articles and caring more for the scientific truth instead of the political truth.
It's so sad. NatGeo started stumbling in the late 1990's/early 2000's. I had the same experience as the author... stacks of magazines in the basement... getting lost exploring the world. In elementary school we had extra stacks we could use to cut out pictures for projects.
I remember teachers would solicit old magazines from parents for this purpose. I would never allow them to give away National Geographic though... they were definitely a magazine worth saving.