The Last Recreations: Hydras, Eggs, and Other Mathematical Mystifications (Hardcover)

by Martin Gardner (Author)
Key Phrases: trivalent graphs, trivalent map, cyclic majorities, The Last Recreations, Scientific American, Checker Recreations (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
The Last Recreations collects the final works of Martin Gardner, the renowned "Mathematical Games" columnist for Scientific American. No prior knowledge of mathematics are necessary here; all will enjoy learning about topics ranging from Bulgarian solitaire to taxicab geometry, with experienced expositor Gardner as guide. Letters and updates concerning his column are also included in this book.

From Scientific American
Gardner, who conducted the immensely popular Mathematical Games department of this magazine from 1956 to 1981, presents here his 15th and final (he says) collection of those columns. There are 23 of them, culled from his last seven years of writing for the magazine. They deal with such engaging topics as "The Wonders of a Planiverse," "Bulgarian Solitaire and Other Seemingly Endless Tasks," "M-Pire Maps," "The Monster and Other Sporadic Groups" and "Taxicab Geometry." As in previous collections, Gardner brings his topics up-to-date and includes some of the letters from readers that his beguiling problems brought forth.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 404 pages
• Publisher: Springer; 1 edition (May 25, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0387949291
• ISBN-13: 978-0387949291
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.5 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,869,191 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Whoah! Nostalgia!, May 12, 1998

By	Piers Cawley (UK) - See all my reviews

Reading this takes me back to time spent in my school's library poring over Gardner's columns in Scientific American. Several of the columns in this book I first read as a nerdy 14 year old and was staggered then (as I am now) by the elegance and beauty of the ideas they contained. Now I read it with a far greater appreciation of the problems and ideas expressed, but that doesn't compare with the sheer sense of wonder I experienced first time around.

3.0 out of 5 stars Not as interesting as his earlier books, October 19, 2008

By	Giant Panda (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews

I have long enjoyed reading Martin Gardner's books for their content of entertaining mathematical puzzles. Unfortunately, this volume is not as entertaining as the earlier books. The book takes thoroughness to the extreme, beating every issue to death and hence reading more like a textbook than a puzzle book. Further there is little diversity in topics - most chapters come from number theory or topology. Still you will find some interesting problems in this one: flatland, cannibals, taxicab geometry, checkers, the pigeonhole, and non-Euclidean geometry. Just don't plan to read everything or you will end up bogged down.

4.0 out of 5 stars whoa! slow down!, April 3, 2000

By A Customer

Maybe its that I'm looking at the past through rose colored glasses, but when I read this I did'nt experience the same sense of wonder that I did when I was 13. Martin touches on very very cool topics, but my main gripe is that he whizzes through everything, often just giving a pointer to another book, which is great in that it encourages more exploration but is frustrating at the same time. But if you havent encountared recreational mathematics before, take a look, Martin does a wonderful job in making math FUN!