My Best Mathematical and Logic Puzzles (Dover Recreational Math) by Martin Gardner (PDF)

Description

Over a period of 25 years as author of the Mathematical Games column for Scientific American, Martin Gardner devoted a column every six months or so to short math problems or puzzles. He was especially careful to present new and unfamiliar puzzles that had not been included in such classic collections as those by Sam Loyd and Henry Dudeney. Later, these puzzles were published in book collections, incorporating reader feedback on alternate solutions or interesting generalizations. The present volume contains a rich selection of 70 of the best of these brain teasers, in some cases including references to new developments related to the puzzle. Now enthusiasts can challenge their solving skills and rattle their egos with such stimulating mind-benders as The Returning Explorer, The Mutilated Chessboard, Scrambled Box Tops, The Fork in the Road, Bronx vs. Brooklyn, Touching Cigarettes, and 64 other problems involving logic and basic math. Solutions are included.

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: From the Back Cover Over a period of 25 years as author of the Mathematical Games column for Scientific American, Martin Gardner devoted a column every six months or so to short math problems or puzzles. He was especially careful to present new and unfamiliar puzzles that had not been included in such classic collections as those by Sam Loyd and Henry Dudeney. Later, these puzzles were published in book collections, incorporating reader feedback on alternate solutions or interesting generalizations.The present volume contains a rich selection of 70 of the best of these brain teasers, in some cases including references to new developments related to the puzzle. Now enthusiasts can challenge their solving skills and rattle their egos with such stimulating mind-benders as The Returning Explorer, The Mutilated Chessboard, Scrambled Box Tops, The Fork in the Road, Bronx vs. Brooklyn, Touching Cigarettes, and 64 other problems involving logic and basic math. Solutions are included. About the Author Martin Gardner was a renowned author who published over 70 books on subjects from science and math to poetry and religion. He also had a lifelong passion for magic tricks and puzzles. Well known for his mathematical games column in Scientific American and his “Trick of the Month” in Physics Teacher magazine, Gardner attracted a loyal following with his intelligence, wit, and imagination. Martin Gardner: A Remembrance The worldwide mathematical community was saddened by the death of Martin Gardner on May 22, 2010. Martin was 95 years old when he died, and had written 70 or 80 books during his long lifetime as an author. Martin’s first Dover books were published in 1956 and 1957: Mathematics, Magic and Mystery, one of the first popular books on the intellectual excitement of mathematics to reach a wide audience, and Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science, certainly one of the first popular books to cast a devastatingly skeptical eye on the claims of pseudoscience and the many guises in which the modern world has given rise to it. Both of these pioneering books are still in print with Dover today along with more than a dozen other titles of Martin’s books. They run the gamut from his elementary Codes, Ciphers and Secret Writing, which has been enjoyed by generations of younger readers since the 1980s, to the more demanding The New Ambidextrous Universe: Symmetry and Asymmetry from Mirror Reflections to Superstrings, which Dover published in its final revised form in 2005. To those of us who have been associated with Dover for a long time, however, Martin was more than an author, albeit a remarkably popular and successful one. As a member of the small group of long-time advisors and consultants, which included NYU’s Morris Kline in mathematics, Harvard’s I. Bernard Cohen in the history of science, and MIT’s J. P. Den Hartog in engineering, Martin’s advice and editorial suggestions in the formative 1950s helped to define the Dover publishing program and give it the point of view which — despite many changes, new directions, and the consequences of evolution — continues to be operative today. In the Author’s Own Words:”Politicians, real-estate agents, used-car salesmen, and advertising copy-writers are expected to stretch facts in self-serving directions, but scientists who falsify their results are regarded by their peers as committing an inexcusable crime. Yet the sad fact is that the history of science swarms with cases of outright fakery and instances of scientists who unconsciously distorted their work by seeing it through lenses of passionately held beliefs.” “A surprising proportion of mathematicians are accomplished musicians. Is it because music and mathematics share patterns that are beautiful?” — Martin Gardner

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

⭐These are fun for the needy side. He picked the best out of several decades of writing

⭐My brain was feeling a bit fuzzy, and figured it was time to start giving my aging bean a workout. I decided to research and add in some thinking challenges via puzzles, games, and word problems. I bought this book by Martin Gardner because I am already a fan of his. I love how he appreciates the sciences and skepticism. He had a long history of creating recreational math problems for the every day person to challenge themselves with. These aren’t necessarily difficult, but some are a big challenge. It takes some time to readjust ones thinking in order to work through some of these. HENCE, a brain workout– especially if not used to thinking along these lines. If you are, then this is just a fun maintenance activity. I ended up buying various books and hands on puzzles for myself, then bought duplicates to make a really neat gift basket. I included stuff like Sudoku, crosswords, search a words, then more complicated stuff including this book and some hands on puzzles. Great for just about anyone.

⭐I am really enjoying this short book of Martin Gardner’s best logic and mathematical puzzles written for his Scientific American column. The problems range widely in difficulty, with some requiring only a few moments of reflection and other laying quite beyond my cognitive powers. The problems are entertainingly presented. Answers are provided in the back of the book; actually, more than half the length of the book is the answers section. Some readers have complained that the answers are inadequate, but I have not found this to be so. Gardner engages in name dropping, particularly in the answers section, probably to add glamour to his column. He will sometimes note “Two Harvard physics students wrote in with this solution,” or “John Campbell of Astounding suggested this solution”. Campbell was the famous editor who first published Asimov, Heinlein and Van Vogt, inaugurating the “Golden Age” of Science Fiction. Evidently he was smart in lots of ways! It gives a sense of group endeavor, as if everyone is working these problems. The book is short, but well worth the extremely cheap price from Dover. I wondered while reading this book whether American society as it currently exists would be capable of creating a figure like Martin Gardner. His closest analog might be the conservative columnist John Derbyshire, who is really of English provenance. While Gardner’s skill set is technical in nature, I would place his work in the entertainment bracket, sort of a sweet by-product of our technico/literary education system. I’m not sure whether puzzles and brain teasers are strictly entertainment, or if they might serve a purpose similar to weight-lifting and conditioning to the athlete. No one has ever filled Gardner’s shoes at Scientific American. The reason I fear is that the American education system and the general spiritual impetus of our culture as it now stands are not able to instill the simultaneous virtues in one individual. Of course, Gardner served no essential purpose–most people get by without challenging brain teasers– but philosophically the question is worth pondering.

⭐Just when I thought I was great at logic puzzles this book comes and makes me turn my brain on and think! The puzzles are mostly decent and varied in theme so there is enough content to appeal to a wide audience. I am enjoying doing the puzzles with my 13 year old daughter. My criticisms are with the kindle book having insufficient effort being put into its production. 1) each puzzle should have a link to its solution. You need to return to the content page and manually navigate to the answers then page until you find the solution. Hopefully you dont accidentally read the answer to the next puzzle. 2) puzzles are barebones. They need more illustration. 3) Hints should be included so you dont resort to the answer too quickly. 4) the solutions need more explanation and illustration. I think the author has been writing these books so long he has forgotten that the joy in puzzles lies in the journey not the answer. Nonetheless the book is going to give you days of enjoyment.

⭐A great, classic collection of puzzles. But do note that these are not new puzzles. Some of them are probably a hundred years old; I know for a fact many of them are fifty years old — I personally read them in the Sixties in Gardner’s “Scientific American” column! But old or new, these are great puzzles. My only beef is that there is no direct link from puzzle to answer in the Kindle edition. To get to the answer, you have to go to the table of contents, page down to the end, select “Answers”, and page through the answers to find the puzzle number. Dover could have provided a link for each puzzle, but instead they just scanned the text and called it an “ebook”. Come on, guys. If you’re charging for it, try to do as good a job as the MoblileRead volunteers do.

⭐I originally purchased this book to use as preparation for brain teaser interview questions and as a conversational piece. A very similar question did actually come up during an interview. However, I have mixed feelings about the effectiveness and entertainment value of this book. While the problems are all interesting and represent a large range of skill levels, there does not seem to be any particular organization to the problems. Some puzzles are basic word problems that you would encounter in algebra I (21. The colliding missiles) or geometry (43. Bisecting yin and yang) while others are really difficult visualization (29. The folded sheet) or statistical problems (23. Triangular duel). There is something for everyone, but you may find yourself needlessly bored or frustrated if you go straight through. Out of the 66 problems, there are only a handful that are right level for a given person.

⭐The puzzles in this book were easy and kind of dumb. I would suggest it for children but it would probably do more harm than good.

⭐60 great fun puzzles, this book dates back to 1994 but is still as valid now as it was then (no old-fashioned problems involving money in pounds, shillings and pence or similar). As an example, is it possible to place 6 cigarettes so that each one touches the other 5? There is one chess problem: can you find white’s only possible move that does NOT immediately checkmate black (a nice twist), and a nice twist on the old problem where one guard always tells the truth and the other always lies. Solutions are very clearly set out in the back, and too often they are maddeningly simple! No knowledge of maths beyond pre-GCSE required, but plenty to occupy the minds of puzzlers like me who have maths degrees.

⭐I’m not really happy with this book. It’s not looking nice, it’s not well organised and some of the puzzles in there didn’t have much sense to me.

⭐No direct link to answers on the kindle version makes this book an impossibility o navigate. Gave up after puzzle three.Sloppy conversion by the editor / publisher makes reading this book painfull. Wasted money.

⭐I was expecting a thick compendium of logic puzzles, but it was rather thin. There are others by this author and thicker too, so do the research!

⭐Happy with purchase

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