Hail Martin Gardner!

[triadboy]

I keep threatening myself about buying a Gardner book, but everytime I wind up buying a religious type book.

Can someone name a good Gardner book to start with?

 

[Brown]

Martin Gardner has now left us, but his work will last for centuries.

 

[Gord_in_Toronto]

Sad. Sad. Sad news.

I am a skeptic rather than a cynic because of Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science. I must go and re-read it for the dozenth time.

 

[Skeptic]

Just out of curiosity, what's the "interesting decimal expansion" of 1/89?

My calculator says 0.011235955056179775280898876404494

I can see the beginning of some patterns, like repeated digits ('55', '77', '88'), or repeated patterns like 'x0x' ('505', '808') and 'x9x' ('595' and '898'), but they're not coming together as a clear pattern for me...

Google is your friend...

 

[Skeptic]

I must say I am not particularly sad that a man who was almost 100, having lived a full and remarkable life, had died painlessly in his sleep.

But I will miss Gardner.

 

[Kopji]

An interesting philosophy book (that I seem to have given away) was "The Whys of a Philosophical Scrivener". There's probably some valid criticism of some of his conclusions, but read as some random topics considered by a clear thinker and I enjoyed it much.

His most well known books would probably be about Mathematical puzzles. I have "The 2nd Scientific American Book of Mathematical Puzzles and Diversions". It has an entire chapter devoted to making tetraflexagons.

Can a paper bag (that is, a rectangular tube closed on the bottom) be turned inside out by a finite number of folds?

If questions like that interest you this second kind of Gardner book is probably for you.

Gardner is a "fideist," meaning that he acknowledges the impossibility of
demonstrating rationally the existence of God and related issues, but insisting that faith is an appropriate mechanism for getting around these difficulties.
- Amazon.com Reviews

 

[jiggeryqua]

I came to his work through the annotated Alice, and though I've never been particularly mathematically inclined, he had a of way of making maths playful that I enjoyed enormously.

 

[Almo]

I still remember his article from Science that included the vanishing elf trick. Great guy.

 

[Brown]

I still remember his article from Science that included the vanishing elf trick. Great guy.

I still have that issue. It was "Science 79" (I think) and featured a shark on the cover. The story included a reprint of the vanishing elf trick from an early issue of Humpty Dumpty (I think). Gardner mentioned that his inclusion of so many cut-out puzzles from the kiddie magazine irked some parents, who apparently had a hang-up about mutilatation of magazines for purposes of amusement.

The story also featured Gardner's comments about one of his most intriguing columns, dealing with Newcomb's paradox.

The paradox is discussed in this thread and this thread.

 

[Spiro]

I'd read Martin Gardner's <i>Mathematical Games</i> columns regularly almost from their start, then in the mid-60s stumbled across <i>Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science</i>. That was a watershed for me; it made me realize how absurdly open-minded and uncritical I'd been in my youthful enthusiasm for UFOs, telepathy and many other woo favourites. From there to Randi, CSI(COP) and many other skeptical books and organizations was a very small step. Thank you Martin: you made a difference and that's not something everyone can say.

Among many favourite columns I remember with huge affection his April fool column that included such brilliant touches as Da Vinci's drawing inventing the water closet, his many Dr Matrix columns (for those who don't know, Dr Matrix was a character Gardner used as a basis for miscellaneous and often hilarious adventures into mathematical obscurities) and, of course, the flexagons (hexa- and tetra-), the polyominoes and the many, many collections of fascinating puzzles.

Gardner's debunking books after <i>In the Name of Science</i> focussed on specific topics, and some were collections of his essays in <i>The Skeptical Inquirer</i>. He was prolific, humorous, amazingly broad in the reach of his topics, and ultimately a unique contributor to the world's knowledge. I shall miss him!

 

[dropzone]

Few writers have had more influence on me than Martin Gardner. I was always pretty good at math, but Gardner showed me how to love mathematics.

Didn't get math. Been exposed to it. STILL can't make hide nor hair of it, but some has managed to work its way past Mom's 1939, but Catholic school, credentials.

She worked her way into predentials of kids, having known sone of them since HS.

I used Martin Gardiner to bluff my way into classes far beyond my letter grade.

 

[monoman]

I was just going to sit down and see if I could figure why 1/89 was special but Rex beat me to it . I was a little annoyed at not seeing it right away .
...

Are you saying you could have spotted the pattern, or you were trying to remember where you'd seen it before?

I'd be gobsmacked if you could spot a pattern like that so fast!

 

[marplots]

The story also featured Gardner's comments about one of his most intriguing columns, dealing with Newcomb's paradox.

I ran across this as a question that could illuminate someone's internal thought-engine, either tending toward Spock-style rational or less so. I always thought, that presented with the actual paradox, I would gladly sell shares to the unopened box and leverage the beliefs of others to get something like $500,000. A good compromise.

That seemed optimal until a financially adroit friend pointed out I could use the unopened box as the sole collateral on a million-dollar loan and then just default.

 

[RSLancastr]

This thread reminded me: I have recently been a regular on a "believer" forum and had been talking of the possibility of going to get a "reading" as a skeptic. Someone posted on one of my threads asking if I had known Gardner. She said that Gardner seemed to have been a nice man, and suggested that perhaps the psychic could bring me a message from Gardner, if I had known him.

My trip to see the psychic did not pan out, so - no visitation from Gardner, fortunately. I wouldn't have the IQ to understand it anyway.

 

[LashL]

Thanks, Brown. It's actually because of your posts here about Mr. Gardner that I became familiar with him and was able to pass on his great work to my own daughter. He had an interesting and long life, but he will indeed be sorely missed.

Thanks again.