Fantasia Mathematica [Paperback]

Clifton Fadiman (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1997

Clifton Fadiman's classic collection of mathematical stories, essays and anecdotes is now once again available. Ranging from the poignant to the comical via the simply surreal, these selections include writing by Aldous Huxley, Martin Gardner, H.G. Wells, George Gamow, G.H. Hardy, Robert Heinlein, Arthur C. Clarke, and many others. Humorous, mysterious, and always entertaining, this collection is sure to bring a smile to the faces of mathematicians and non-mathematicians alike.

Editorial Reviews

From Scientific American

...this anthology of mathematically oriented short stories and poems should delight a new generation of readers.

Review

Math can be a more rewarding source of fun and laughter than I thought possible. -- New Scientist

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Product Details

• Paperback: 309 pages
• Publisher: Springer; 1st ed. 1958, 2nd printing edition (April 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0387949313
• ISBN-13: 978-0387949314
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #222,019 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars JEEPERS! An interesting book about math?, March 15, 2001

By 

Jeffrey N. Takle (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fantasia Mathematica (Paperback)

What a relief to open the pages of this book. I approach mathematics as a subject necessary, but always painful, to learn. Dare I say I love this book? Some of the short stories are humorous, some are endearing, some have common characters. All deal with mathematics in one way or another. Fadiman's book succeeded where so many others failed--it interested me.

A LIFE LEARNING POINT: This book closely tied math with imagination and fantasy--a connection never clearly drawn in my public education. I think, though, that it's very important to present mathematics as the language for interpreting the world that it is...rather than as a cold and mostly irrelevant subject to get C minuses in! IT MADE MATH EXCITING. Yikes, did I say that? It is another way to know why your baseball is going to break the window, how to build a spaceship in your back yard, and how to teleport to Argentina in 0 seconds flat.

A real tangible benefit to reading this book was learning the derivation of Pythagoras' Theorom. Not to sound like an idiot, but I think most of us went through high school geometry having no clue where a2 + b2 = c2 came from. In two pages, this book explained it so clearly to me that I laughed out loud. IF ONLY THEY USED THIS TO TEACH ME INSTEAD OF A BRUTAL MATH BOOK!

This book is worth it in Hard Cover or Paperback. Own it and you too can open up to your closest friends and admit you liked a book about math...

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of my favourite books., October 23, 1997

By 

Edward A. Hildebrandt (Edmonton Alberta Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fantasia Mathematica (Paperback)

I am delighted to find this book available for sale. I lost my copy several years ago and have missed it immensely. This is a delightful collection of science fiction stories and poems all with the common property that they use mathematics of some kind as their theme. Some stories are very funny, others are thought provoking and at least one is quite touching. They're all entertaining. You probably won't learn much mathematics from these stories (mathematicians are warned in the forward to stay away), but if you're the least bit interested in mathematics, you will find them enchanting. I highly recommend this book - its a gem!

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating and amusing collection of math-themed stories, July 27, 1998

By 

. "Adelie" (Grass Valley, CA, USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Fantasia Mathematica (Paperback)

I was a mere child when this book originally came out, and have worn out my first copy - delighted to see it back in print. Contrary to your write-up, I, a certified math-phobic, actually learned a fair amount of "math stuff" from it. Some of the stories are poignant, some are wildly funny, some are terrific satires, some are quite predictive of the future, and all but one are very worth reading. (That one, the first in my old copy, has so much critical information in Italian, with no translation, that it was a waste of time to read it.) I intend to reread my old friend, and pass it around to like-minded new ones.