The Colossal Book of Short Puzzles and Problems by Martin Gardner (PDF)

Description

Finally collected in one volume, Martin Gardner’s immensely popular short puzzles; along with a few new ones from the master. For more than twenty-five years, Martin Gardner was Scientific American’s renowned provocateur of popular math. His yearly gatherings of short and inventive problems were easily his most anticipated math columns. Loyal readers would savor the wit and elegance of his explorations in physics, probability, topology, and chess, among others. Grouped by subject and arrayed from easiest to hardest, the puzzles gathered here, which complement the lengthier, more involved problems in The Colossal Book of Mathematics, have been selected by Gardner for their illuminating; and often bewildering; solutions. Filled with over 300 illustrations, this new volume even contains nine new mathematical gems that Gardner, now ninety, has been gathering for the last decade. No amateur or expert math lover should be without this indispensable volume; a capstone to Gardner’s seventy-year career. 308 illustrations

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: Review “A remarkable retrospective of [Gardner’s] astonishingly influential career as an expositor extraordinaire.” About the Author Martin Gardner (1914-2010) is regarded as one of the world’s leading experts on Lewis Carroll and his work. The author of more than a hundred books, he wrote the “Mathematical Games” column for Scientific American for twenty-five years and has been hailed by Douglas Hofstadter as “one of the great intellects produced in this country in this century.”

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

⭐I’m a huge fan of using novel brain teasers as a form of mental exercise, and boy does Gardner deliver on the goods in this weighty tome. The problems differ widely in content and form. Some can be solved quickly by merely employing just a mental trick or two, such as picking up on a pun or ambiguity. Often, there’s a beauty and humour that permeates such problems. Other problems are incredibly technical and academic, but redeemed by the unwavering enthusiasm with which Gardner presents them. For anyone looking for novel mental challenges backed up by an author with a winning personality and genuine enthusiasm for what he does, I’d highly recommend this book.

⭐This is a refreshing collection that, while scarcely new (and it admits to being, with scant exception, a rehash of previous material), presents the puzzles in a delightful format. The organization into sections–chess puzzles, physics puzzles, word puzzles, etc.–is refreshing and an incisive aid to locating just the type of tickler that appeals to you at the moment, and the diagrams, typography, and even feel of the paper are all first-class. In summary, this is a comprehensive and handsome volume that would do well on the intelligent person’s bookshelf, even if the material isn’t as mathematically sophisticated as Joukowsky airfoils.

⭐I came to this book having been exposed to Martin Gardner’s puzzles through the Aha! and Eureka! books and a smattering of examples from other places.They didn’t prepare me for this. This book is chock full of puzzles and problems in various areas, but only earliest puzzles in each section are on the difficulty level of the Aha!/Eureka! books (or some of his small collected puzzle books) – the latter puzzles are much more difficult and likely to require serious math and lots of pen and paper time.So, I’d recommend this – in fact, I hope more people try it out – just be prepared for serious challenges in math and logic.

⭐Good book but it is a hard cover book so writing in it is not what it is designed for; I think. Has lots of good stuff but we do these as a family effort and like to write in our other soft cover books and share when we are stumped or have a brain block. This is more of a text book approach. I gave it a three star because it is not a book to write in and have fun with without external supplies like a pad or coping stuff from it.

⭐I don’t even know where to start. If you like puzzles and/or math, you’ll like this. Here’s how you use it (*with two benefits): At the beginning of dinner, read one of the puzzles. This is especially good if you have kids. Talk it through while you work your way through dinner, and read the solution at the end.*Slows down the meal, and stimulates out of the box thinking.

⭐Definetly challenging for me since I have to revert back to my math classes of 20 years ago. Sometimes a better explanation of how the answer is derived would make it more of a learning experience.

⭐Our family has enjoyed these puzzles on many rainy days. It is interesting to watch each member of the family as they find a solution in their own unique way.

⭐Great book

⭐This is one amazing collection and I highly recommend it to any one with an interest in mathematical problems. There are a range of problems here: some not too hard, others quite difficult. Solutions are available, but try not to look at them as the fun is in finding the solution, not in knowing the solution!A great gift for any one of Gardner’s fans!

⭐Bought this second hand for a little light reading and fun and games at dinner time. It is amazing how quickly an hour waiting for a casserole goes when solving a couple of these puzzles.I love the variety and would definitely recommend to anyone who wants a little brain cell boost.

⭐A handsome distillation of Gardner’s paperback books which I’ve had for decades and have now finally consigned to the bin 🙂

⭐Lots and lots of mathematical puzzles and problems (as the title says). Lots of examples but each one is the lighter and shorter side of Martin Garder who is always a good read. It is best dipped into from time to time and vary your choice of chapters as you go.

⭐Dentro de los libros de su categoría es un clásico. Los puzzles son divertidos y te hacen pensar. Echo en falta que las soluciones estén mejor explicadas pero incluso con todo esto este libro no puede faltarle a quién le gusten las matemáticas.Si quieres dar el paso más allá tras el SUDOKU, éste es tu libro (ojo está en inglés y es necesario pilotar un poco en inglés para entender los enunciados)

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