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Origami, Eleusis, and the Soma Cube: Martin Gardner's Mathematical Diversions

1 rating: 5.0

A book by Martin Gardner

"Martin Gardner's fifteen volumes about Mathematical Games are The Canon - timeless classics that are always worth reading and rereading." Don Knuth "Gardner's monthly romp through recreational … see full wiki

Tags: Books, Mathematics, Recreational Mathematics

Author: Martin Gardner

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

1 review about Origami, Eleusis, and the Soma Cube: Martin...

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Gardner is the best math writer ever, no time spent reading his work is ever wasted

May 5, 2010

by CharlesAshbacher
posted in Cafe Libri: Reviewing Books & More

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If the essence of Martin Gardner could be distilled and injected into the authors of mathematics textbooks for K-12 students, it would be the end to the phrase "math is hard." No one has ever demonstrated anything close to his talents for making mathematics understandable and he once again (re)shines in this book. The articles are all reprints of his work that appeared in the "Mathematical Recreations" column of "Scientific American" although each now has an addendum, bibliography and answers to any questions posed in the article.
In this book, the titles of the 20 articles are:

*) The Five Platonic Solids
*) Tetraflexagons
*) Henry Ernest Dudeney: England's Greatest Puzzlist
*) Digital Roots
*) Nine Problems
*) The Soma Cube
*) Recreational Topology
*) Phi: The Golden Ratio
*) The Monkey and the Coconuts
*) Mazes
*) Recreational Logic
*) Magic Squares
*) James Hugh Riley Shows, Inc.
*) Nine More Problems
*) Eleusis: The Induction Game
*) Origami
*) Squaring the Circle
*) Mechanical Puzzles
*) Probability and Ambiguity
*) The Mysterious Dr. Matrix

Although I had read many of these articles several times before I opened this book, it is an irrefutable fact that any time spent reading the math of Gardner is never unproductive.

Published in "Journal of Recreational Mathematics" reprinted with permission

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