The No-sided Professor & Other Tales of Fantasy, Humor, Mystery & Philosophy

by Martin Gardner

Here is Martin Gardner's first collection of short stories. Culled from fiction written over the years for such magazines as Esquire and the London Mystery Magazine, The No-Sided Professor is proof that Gardner's expertise does not stop at his scientific and mathematical works. Only Gardner can infuse short stories with the same masterful charm, wit, and philosophical brio that have brought him legions of fans through his mathematical-puzzle books and investigations into science and pseudoscience.Gardner introduces us to the "No-Sided Professor," Dr. Stanislaw Slapenarski, who by means of a kind of mathematical yoga blips himself and his nemesis into another dimension. In "At the Feet of Karl Klodhopper," Gardner tells an engrossing story of lust and murder in the art world. These and other stories reveal Gardner's astonishingly wide range of intellectual insight and cultural acumen.The No-Sided Professor is full of tales of fantasy, humor, the bohemian life, topological wizardry, and mystery. All are stamped with the unmistakable seal of a master storyteller.

Genres: Fantasy, Short Stories, Science Fiction, Mystery

Hardcover

First published March 1, 1987

About the author

Martin Gardner was an American mathematics and science writer specializing in recreational mathematics, but with interests encompassing micromagic, stage magic, literature (especially the writings of Lewis Carroll), philosophy, scientific skepticism, and religion. He wrote the Mathematical Games column in Scientific American from 1956 to 1981, and published over 70 books.

Reviews

[Shawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I originally bought this book years ago when searching for math and science based short stories. I read a couple back then, but nothing really caught my fancy completely. It has been near the top of my to-read pile for those years and I finally decided to give it a shot.
Gardner's short stories run the gamut from almost banal life observational to surreal fantasy. Only a few were even a dozen pages in length, but in those few pages he had a few that were haunting or simply stuck with me. Probably my three favorites were the eponymous "No-sided Professor", a story about a mathematician who discovers a how to fold a shape into zero dimensions; "The Sixth Ship", about a former sailor lamenting the loss of his last ship; and the final story in the book "The Stranger," a story of the souls of cities.
So, why only 3 stars then? The honest reason may just be the age of the stories and my own busy life. I felt like this was not a book which I was itching to read wherever the chance presented (I finished 3 or 4 other books while reading it). It is a handy book if you don't have much time send just want a few page stories to scratch your reading itch.
Long story short, I didn't regret this book, but I will not be rushing out to find more by the author.

[Maurizio Codogno · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nella sterminata produzione di Martin Gardner c'è anche della narrativa. Non molta, scritta per la maggior parte tra la fine della seconda guerra mondiale e l'inizio degli anni '60, ma c'è. Gardner stesso ne raccolse la maggior parte in questo libro. Diciamocelo: non avrebbe mai vinto il Nobel per la letteratura. Le storie hanno una buona proprietà di linguaggio, sicuramente migliore di quelle di Asimov che notoriamente era piatto; però sono troppo precisine per scaldare il cuore. È insomma la solita maledizione dello scrittore scientifico: ottimi saggi, ma scarsa narrativa. Non è un caso che il racconto giallo anti-psi Mysterious Smith non fosse stato mai pubblicato, perché rifiutato dalle riviste del campo... Ci sono però alcuni racconti che meritano: la storia che dà il titolo alla raccolta, che tra l'altro mostra come Gardner fosse interessato alla matematica già prima di dedicarsi anima e corpo alla rubrica di giochi matematici sullo Scientific American; The Loves of Lady Coldpence, racconto sull'editoria che potrebbe essere riciclato anche oggi da qualcuno che non apprezza il movimento open source perché lo vede come una catena di montaggio; The Virgin from Kalamazoo, divertente applicazione "al contrario" del telefono senza fili; e Merlina and the Coloured Ice, nulla di che come trama ma che mi ha non so come colpito. Un libro per completisti, direi.