The Second Scientific American Book of Mathematical Puzzles and Diversions

by Martin Gardner

This delightful collection from the magician of math introduces readers to magic squares, the Generalized Ham Sandwich Theorem, origami, digital roots, an update of the Induction Game of Eleusis, Dudeney puzzles, the maze at Hampton Court palace, and many more mathematical puzzles and principles.

"Gardner is often the clown prince of science. . . . His Mathematical Games column in Scientific American is one of the few bridges over C. P. Snow's famous 'gulf of mutual incomprehension' that lies between the technical and literary cultures."— Time

Genres: Mathematics, Puzzles, Nonfiction, Science, Games, Stem, Logic

254 pages, Paperback

First published January 28, 1901

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

[Nandakishore Mridula · Rating 4 out of 5]

Martin Gardner was a mathematician, a magician and a tireless crusader against pseudoscience. He used to write a regular column ("Mathematical Games") in The Scientific American. These series of books are a collection of those.

These are not only puzzles and games: through this medium, Gardner introduces us to the profound questions in mathematics and philosophy. He makes learning fun.

Recommended if you have a mathematical turn of mind.

[Thomas Ray · Rating 2 out of 5]

Origami, Eleusis, and the Soma Cube, Martin Gardner, 2008, ISBN 9780521735247, Dewey 793.74, Library-of-Congress QA95.

Lord Dunsany's chess problem is almost cheating. pp. 139-140, 145-146.

ERRATA
p. 6: "the 12 edges of an icosahedron" He means 30 edges.

[Rebecca]

I felt like I was coming into the middle of a conversation and trying to keep up - and I *like* math. Maybe if it was more straightforward questions, or more of the theory behind the math I would have enjoyed it more.

[Ste · Rating 5 out of 5]

Essentially the same comments as last time. In addition, the articles date from the late 1950s, and some do show their age – the decision to highlight origami in the title is odd, given that the chapter on origami says almost nothing except that it is an obscure, almost extinct Japanese art. Still, it's full of interesting ideas and games as ever.

[Joel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Martin Gardner is truly an American genius ofthe 20th and 21st centuries. His column was the first place I would go when opening a new issue of Scientific American years ago.

What is now known as "recreational mathematics" owes its popularity in no small part to Gardner's column and books. While I won't pretend to be able to solve many of the puzzles and problems he presents, his explanation of the math involved and how to arrive at a solution is both entertaining and educational.

My only quibble with this book is the presentation is very bland. The chapters in this book (and others in the series) are reprints of original SA columns, with updates from Gardner, but I would have thought the publisher would take greater pride in the graphics and look of the publication. Monochrome is fine in its place, but a little color wouldn't hurt.

[Jim Razinha · Rating 4 out of 5]

More topography, but also more fun diversions. The chapters came from columns he wrote in the late 1950s and it's funny what a generation later turned out: back then, the only other popular die than the standard six-sided cube was an octohedron (he was talking about Platonic solids). The 1970s introduced the world to Dungeons and Dragons and the eventual standardization of D20 games. Dice packs still come in the five Platonic solids. I remember playing Bridge-it a lot at a friend's house and loving it.

[Lost Planet Airman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent, as always!