The Mathematical Magpie by Clifton Fadiman (PDF)

Description

The companion volume to Fantasia Mathematica, first published in 1962, this second anthology of mathematical writings is even more varied than the first and contains stories, cartoons, essays, rhymes, music, anecdotes, aphorisms, and other oddments. Authors include Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, Mark Twain, Lewis Carroll, and many other renowned figures. Like its predecessor, this wide-ranging collection will prove to be fascinating and entertaining reading for anyone with an interest in mathematics.

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: About the Author Clifton Fadiman’s prolific career as an essayist, critic, anthologist, and radio show host has spanned the last five decades. His books include The Lifetime Reading Plan and a collection of essays, Party of One. He served for many years on the board of editors of the Book-of-the-Month Club.

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐This anthology might as well be titled Fantasia Mathematica, Volume 2. When Volume 1 first appeared in 1958, readers couldn’t get enough, so this work followed in 1962, and is now back in print. I first read Volume 1 as a teenager, so the current title doesn’t carry for me the nostalgia of the original, but there’s still lots of good stuff. This time, the best section appears first, A Set of Imaginaries, to get the reader hooked. Two of the better stories are The Appendix And The Spectacles, and Coconuts. As with the original, you don’t have to be mathematically inclined, but it helps — or does it hurt?

⭐This looks like a good book. I heard about it from my math teacher and read the sample online. My question is, why would anyone want to pay over $50 for a copy of the same book they can get for $14? Are the pages made of gold? I recommend the book to anyone who wants a lighthearted look at numbers.

⭐Clifton Fadiman was a critic, anthologist, wit, and television and radio personality. _The Mathematical Magpie_ (1962) is a handsomely packaged sequel to Fadiman’s _Fantasia Mathematica_ (1958). It is a conglomeration of stories, anecdotes, cartoons, essays, bits of music, poems, and epigrams about mathematics– all intended to entertain. It was reviewed by most of the science fiction magazines in the early sixties to uniformly rave reviews (though every reviewer had slightly different personal favorite pieces). Today, the book now has the reputation as something of a small classic.The book is dedicated to Fadiman’s math professor, Edward Kasner, “one of the twelve men who understood Einstein” (xv). It is divided into five sections: “A Set of Imaginaries” (science fiction stories about mathematics); “Comic Sections” (mathematical sections intended to appeal to real mathematicians); “Irregular Figures” (a section featuring oddball characters); “Simple Harmonic Motions” (a section on music); and “Dividends and Remainders” (miscellaneous poems, apothems, anecdotes, and cartoons).Stories from the first section that I enjoyed were Isaac Asimov’s “The Feeling of Power,” about the rediscovery of arithmetic in the computer age; Miles J. Breuer’s venerable old classic from _Amazing_, “The Appendix and the Spectacles”; and three tall tales involving topology by William Hazlitt Upson, H. Nearing, Jr. (a Cleanth Penn Ransom adventure), and Mark Clifton. There were also two classic Arthur C. Clarke tales: “The Pacifist” and “The Nine Billion Names of God”. I was less impressed with Robert M. Coates’ comedy on the law of averages and the two exercises in cruelty by Richard Hughes and James Blish.In section two, I liked Justin Norton’s excerpt from _The Phantom Tollbooth_, Bertram Russell’s spoof of Platonic numbers, Stephen Leacock’s satire of word problem characters A,B, and C, and H. Allen Smith’s mathematical proof that Heaven is hotter than Hell.The third section has arguably the three funniest entries. They include two entries by J.L. Synge, “O’Brien’s Table” and “Euclid and the Bright Boy”. The first deals with a madcap inheritance, while the second recounts how the _Geometry_ almost came to be skuttled. Also of madcap appeal is Ben Ames Williams’ “Coconuts,” about a man with “a passion for figures” (196). Almost as funny are entries by Lewis Carroll and John Reese ( a blend of Boolean algebra and the mystery tale).As for the section on music… I have relatives who can read music and play musical instruments much better than I do. But I did like one song, “The Square of the Hypotenuse” (1958). The lyrics were by Johnny Mercer (who wrote “Moon River” and a lot of other good stuff). I have visited Mercer’s grave in his home town of Savanna , Georgia.* The song was sung by Danny Kaye in a movie titled _Merry Andrew_. Thanks to modern technology, I have listened to more recent recordings of the song over the computer.There are many items to choose from in section five. I shall focus on two. The first is a stately parody of Erasmus Darwin, “The Loves of the Triangles”:Let shrill ACOUSTICS tune the tiny lyre;With EUCLID sage fair ALGEBRA conspire;The obedient pulley strong MECHANICS ply,And wanton OPTICS roll the melting eye! (274)The second is a humorous poem by Hilbert Schenck, Jr. that begins:I think that I shall never seeA calculator built like me.A me that likes martinis dryAnd on the rocks, a little rye. (269)This is a book that should be bought in several copies– one for the reader, and others for gifts.*Yes, it is in the same cemetery made famous in _Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil_.

⭐Not what I expected. Fadiman was talented in his way but these are stories about certain mathematicians and problems. Very shallow.

Keywords

Free Download The Mathematical Magpie in PDF format
The Mathematical Magpie PDF Free Download
Download The Mathematical Magpie 1997 PDF Free
The Mathematical Magpie 1997 PDF Free Download
Download The Mathematical Magpie PDF
Free Download Ebook The Mathematical Magpie