Before Sudoku: The World of Magic Squares

by Seymour S. Block, Santiago Alves Tavares

Sudoku has become a vastly popular and even addictive game. But fans may not know that Sudoku is a recent offshoot of the venerable Magic Square, which dates back over 4,000 years to ancient China, where it was literally considered magical. Indeed, Magic Squares have fascinated centuries of mystics, astrologers, and some of the world's most brilliant thinkers, including Ben Franklin.
In Before Sudokus, Seymour Block and Santiago Tavares offer a crystal clear and engaging tour of Magic Squares, tracing their footsteps through through ancient and medieval history and illuminating their uses in art and design, statistics and electronics. The book provides a delightful account of a mind-boggling variety of magical squares, ranging from simple 3 x 3 and squares, to magic cubes, magic circles, magic pyramids, and even "the Beastly Magical Square," whose magic sum is 666. Of course, the authors also cover Sudoku, describing how the game became a world-wide phenomenon and revealing various strategies for solving the puzzles. And along the way, the book offers readers many fascinating facts--for instance, Sudoku was invented in 1979 by an American architect living in Indianapolis and was originally called Number Place. Oddly enough, though the puzzle is known around the world by its Japanese name (which means "single numbers"), many Japanese still call it Number Place. We also learn that in a 4 x 4 magic square, there are 880 different solutions that will yield the magic sum of 34--a surprisingly large number until you remember that there are over 2.6 trillion possible combinations.
Filled with lots of original puzzles for gamers to solve, Before Sudokus is an entertaining book that will delight anyone who loves a challenge, including all fans of Sudoku.

239 pages, Paperback

First published December 10, 2008

Reviews

[Uzma]

I should confess that I didn’t exactly read Before Sudoku so much as conduct a brisk reconnaissance mission through it. My interest in Sudoku drew me in, and I skimmed from page to page like someone searching for clues in a pleasantly eccentric puzzle. Even so, it was fascinating to glimpse the ideas and number games that existed before Sudoku conquered newspapers, waiting rooms, and a significant portion of my free time. I’ll have to return and read it properly, assuming Sudoku allows me.

[Cristina Smith]

I came across this book as I was teaching myself to play Sudoku as a right brained person who is interested in metaphysics. Here I thought Sudoku was just a numbers game. Boy was I wrong!

This book helped me to realize the amazing magic of mathematics and logic. It was a key research resource for one of the chapters in my book, The Tao of Sudoku- Yoga for the Brain. I am grateful for the in depth research and enlightening facts. Thanks!

[John Randolph]

I played Sudoku before but thought the math of it was too easy. So I didn't play it much. After reading about Magic Squares in this book though. That's where the complexity lies. Sudoku is taken from Latin squares which are very similar to Magic Squares but with slightly different rules. Magic Squares come in many varieties and can be as complex as you want them to be. We're talking eighth dimentional, ninth order magic squares that take a PHD in mathematics to create. So my hope in challenging Sudoku-like puzzles is renewed and I hope to come across some that won't bore me.
Also I discovered Edwin Abbott's book Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions, which has to be a major influence on Stephenson's Snow Crash that I just read. Stephenson refered to non three dimensional computer space as the Flatlands. I think if I read Abbott's book, I will find lots of things borrowed by Stephenson.

[Cindy]

Two UF Chem Engineers reveal a universe of magical squares, pentagons, crosses, diamonds, pyramids, star of david, clusters, zigzags, candelabras, quadruple-bent columns, all flowing with patterned calculations. Admire the methodical designs made by chess moves, see the math in art and design concepts sans computer graphics. Very smart.

[Barb]

Very light overview of the kinds of magic squares that exist. I think this would be an excellent way to introduce of number theory. It is appropriate for any child who knows how to add, subtract, multiply and divide. Pretty amazing what numbers do.