Dissections: Plane and Fancy (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

Review

A wonderfully entertaining book... -- Ian Stewart, Scientific American

This book promises to serve as the bible of recreational dissections for at least a generation, just as Harry Lindgren's Recreational Problems in Geometric Dissections and How to Solve Them was the classic source from 1964 to the present. It is clear by browsing through the book and the web page that the field of recreational dissections is alive and well. Frederickson's book will lead it well into the next century. -- MAA Online

This is a much awaited sequel to Harry Lindgren's 1964 classic work, Geometric Dissections, which the author [Frederickson] revised and augmented in the 1972 Dover edition. Actually, the current volume is much more than just a sequel. It is the most comprehensive treatise on the subject of geometric dissections...[T]his book is a collection of interesting dissection puzzles, old and new...This book is an instructive manual on the art and science of geometric dissections...Finally, this book is an important historical document, detailing the inter-cultural development of the subject...In conclusion, the reviewer echoes Martin Gardner that this book will be a classic. It comes with the highest recommendation. -- Crux Mathematicorum with Mathematical Mayhem

[Dissections: Plane & Fancy] brings the field up to date with recent discoveries, and like its predecessor is beautifully illustrated, but the new volume makes much more interesting reading, full of history, literary pastiches, biographies of nearly 50 contributors to the field of dissections, and Frederickson's accounts of his own discoveries, and how he came to make them. A nine-page biography and two indexes are included. This is an essential book for anyone with interest in geometric dissections. -- World Game Review

Review

"A beautiful book that entices, entertains, fascinates, and instructs. Collects, organizes, and presents 2000+ years of discovery alongside exciting new contributions. Complete, thorough, fun to read; this will be a classic." - American Mathematical Monthly

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 322 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press; 1 edition (November 28, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521571979
• ISBN-13: 978-0521571975
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 7.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,212,436 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Slicing and splicing for enjoyment, August 1, 2000

By	Charles Ashbacher "([e-mail])" (Marion, Iowa United States([e-mail])) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)

Dissections are one area of mathematics where theory usually plays a secondary role to intuition. While the discovery of a solution may take an enormous amount of trial and effort, understanding it is generally a simple verification. For these reasons, dissections can aptly be described as an area of popular mathematics. The puzzles of Sam Loyd were extremely popular, with one even described as having been a national craze in the United States, and some of his most diabolical were dissections. His English counterpart and rival was Henry Dudeney, whose collected works of puzzles also contains many dissections.
As befits the development of abstract geometry centuries ago, the art of dissection goes all the way back to the age of Plato. Starting with a geometric shape and cutting it into pieces that can be rearranged to form another shape is something that clearly is more of a hobby than a career, although it is possible that it may have some applications in space filling.
Art and hobbies aside, this is a fun book to explore. Since the subject matter is the slicing and splicing of geometric figures, most of the results are presented as diagrams, making the solutions easy to understand. One thought constantly leapt to mind when I was examining some of the diagrams, "How did they think of doing that?" Obvious only after the fact, many dissections are hardly something that would easily leap to mind. Additional puzzles are interspersed throughout the text and solutions to all are included at the end of the book.
The public loves puzzles, as the popularity of some game shows and regular puzzle columns in newspapers and magazines demonstrates. In this book, you will find some of the most challenging of dissection type puzzles, sure to keep you interested from the opening slice to the final splice.

Published in Journal of Recreational Mathematics, reprinted with permission.