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 Martin Gardner (1914 - ) was the
Mathematical Games columnist for Scientific American. He originated the column
in 1956, and his columns appeared until his retirement from the magazine in
1986. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Chicago in 1936. Prior
to his Navy service in World War II, he was a reporter on the Tulsa Tribune and
a staff writer with the University of Chicago Press Relations Department.
After the war, he became a freelance writer. His more-than-60 books have served
generations of scholars, the merely curious, and serious researchers into
esoteric branches of mathematics and "hard" sciences such as physics -- all of
whom are astonished to learn that Mr. Gardner has no formal academic status in
any of those disciplines.
Now ''retired," Martin Gardner turns out ''only
two or three" books a year, and shows no signs of decelerating.
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 Are Universes
Thicker Than Blackberries
W. W. Norton & Company.
Martin Gardner, debunker of scientific fraud and chicanery, explores in this
title startling scientific concepts, such as the possibility of multiple
universes and the theory that time can go backwards. Armed with his expert,
sceptical eye, he examines the bizarre tangents produced by Freudians and
deconstructionists in their critiques of "Little Red Riding Hood" and reveals
the fallacies of pseudoscientific cures, from Doctor Bruno Bettelheim's
erroneous theory of autism to the cruel farces of Facilitated Communication and
Primal Scream Therapy.
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 The Colossal
Book of Mathematics
W. W. Norton & Company. No
amateur or maths authority can be without The Colossal Book of Mathematics--the
ultimate compendium from America's best-loved mathematical expert. Whether
discussing hexaflexagons or number theory, Klein bottles or the essence of
"nothing", Martin Gardner has single-handedly created the field of
"recreational mathematics". The Colossal Book of Mathematics collects together
Gardner's most popular pieces from his legendary "Mathematical Games" column,
which ran in Scientific American for 25 years.
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 The Ambidextrous
Universe
Penguin. "Is God left-handed?" Martin Gardner
takes an entertaining look at one of man's most puzzling questions: Is the
universe symmetrical? This book is a popular survey of mirror symmetry (left
vs. right) and asymmetry, and the significant roles they play in such diverse
fields as mathematics, physics, art, music, poetry, and more!
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 Hexaflexagons and Other Mathematical Diversions : The First
Scientific American Book of Puzzles and Games
University
of Chicago Press. "These clearly and cleverly presented mathematical
recreations of paradoxes and paperfolding, Moebius variations and mnemonics
both ancient and modern delight and perplex while demonstating principles of
logic, probability, geometry, and other mathematical fields."
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Mathematical Puzzles and Diversions
 Penguin. I bought this book when I was a pupil at Great Yarmouth
Grammar School in 1967 for three and sixpence. It introduced me to the whole
world of recreational maths. I still have it - here's the cover.
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Mathematical Carnival
Penguin.
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 Aha!
Gotcha
Freeman. "What a great introduction to thinking
skills-- presented in a light-hearted fashion that is non-intimidating and fun.
"
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Aha!
Insight
Freeman. "This book is about tough problems with
easy answers -- easy, that is, once seen in the right way. Illustrated with
cartoons and full of humor, it is readily enjoyable by many people who wouldn't
normally touch a book on recreational mathematics."
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 The
Annotated Alice
by Martin Gardner (and Lewis Carroll),
Penguin. Summarises the mathematics disguised within the Alice books. The only
single-volume edition of Carroll's masterpieces, Alice in Wonderland and Alice
Through the Looking Glass, contains the complete text of both works and
annotations that highlight the games, references, and parodies in the
works.
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Mathematics Magic and Mystery
Dover. Why
do card tricks work? Or mind-reading tricks? Cards, dice, coins, topological
tricks, geometrical vanishing tricks, pure numbers, Moebius strips... and no
sleight of hand required. Includes the "divining a number" trick where he asks
someone to choose a number between 1 and 10, then gets them to do some mental
arithmetic and finally, after asking for NO information from them, tells them
what number had been chosen!
Buy at
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