In the early 1950s, an eleven-year-old boy boards a ship bound for England, and at mealtimes is seated at the 'cat's table' with a ragtag group of 'insignificant' adults and two other boys. As the ship makes its way across the Indian Ocean, through the Suez Canal, into the Mediterranean, the boys tumble from one adventure to another, 'bursting all over the place like freed mercury.' But there are other diversions: one man talks to them about jazz and women, another about literature. And at night, the boys spy on a shackled prisoner - his crime and fate a galvanizing mystery that will haunt them forever.
Many of the topics that are commonly placed in the area of recreational mathematics have occupied their niches for many years. Therefore, although the bulk of the material in this book was written almost four decades ago, it is largely still topical. The primary areas that are not are where the computer has increased our capability. At the time it was written, the four-color theorem was not yet proven and the largest known prime was but a shadow of what it is now.
Word Recreations: Games and Diversions from 'Word Ways'
What is the shortest American place name? The last word in a dictionary? People have been playing with words since the time of the ancient Greeks. However, wordplay has not been percieved to be a separate field of study - logology (recreational linguistics) - until recently. The Word Ways, the Journal of Recreational Linguistics, reports new discoveries in lology. This publication presents a collection of word games and diversions from the magazine.
The Second Scientific American Book of Mathematical Puzzles and Diversions
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.
New Mathematical Diversions: More Puzzles, Problems, Games, and
Added by: cumartesileri | Karma: 111.83 | Fiction literature | 21 June 2007
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New Mathematical Diversions: More Puzzles, Problems, Games, and Other Mathematical Diversions (Spectrum Series)
By Martin Gardner
Another collection of pearls of mathematical wisdom
If there were a mathematics of watching paint dry, Martin Gardner would make it interesting. Without peer as a popularizer of mathematics, he is equally adept at explaining all areas. This book, another updated collection of his Scientific American columns, is a twenty member set of polished pearls. Although somewhat mundane as a descriptive adjective, the word readable fits his writing like a custom made body stocking.
Always interesting and entertaining, reading his essays is somewhat like eating tiny chocolate bars. You can't get enough, each seems too small, and there are no negative side effects.
Published in Journal of Recreational Mathematics, reprinted with permission
