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Aha! Gotcha: Paradoxes to Puzzle and Delight Paperback – January 1, 1982

by Martin Gardner (Author)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 37 ratings
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A pocket book of riddles, full of fun and illustrations
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  1. Print length
    164 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    W H Freeman & Co
  4. Publication date
    January 1, 1982
  5. Grade level
    4 - 6
  6. Dimensions
    7.25 x 0.25 x 9.25 inches
  7. ISBN-10
    9780716713616
  8. ISBN-13
    978-0716713616
  9. See all details
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Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0716713616
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ W H Freeman & Co (January 1, 1982)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 164 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780716713616
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0716713616
  • Grade level ‏ : ‎ 4 - 6
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 10.9 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.25 x 0.25 x 9.25 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 37 ratings

About the author

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Martin Gardner

Martin Gardner

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For 25 of his 95 years, Martin Gardner wrote 'Mathematical Games and Recreations', a monthly column for Scientific American magazine. These columns have inspired hundreds of thousands of readers to delve more deeply into the large world of mathematics. He has also made significant contributions to magic, philosophy, debunking pseudoscience, and children's literature. He has produced more than 60 books, including many best sellers, most of which are still in print. His Annotated Alice has sold more than a million copies. He continues to write a regular column for the Skeptical Inquirer magazine.

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
We don’t use a simple average to calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star. Our system gives more weight to certain factors—including how recent the review is and if the reviewer bought it on Amazon. Learn more
37 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

ivy hadenufofthis
5.0 out of 5 stars Genius!
Reviewed in the United States on August 4, 2013
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I was failing all of my classes in high school. After I read this book I was able to use the power of paradoxes to confuse my teachers into giving me passing grades. For example, I stated "This sentence is false," sending my teacher into immediate confusion. OK, in all seriousness, this is a great book for learning to think creatively, and a lot of its short stories and ideas can be used as party tricks to entertain friends and annoy your teachers and professors. Pair this book with Aha! Insight and you have a complete set.
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Jasan Fujii
5.0 out of 5 stars It was recommended to me by a Math Grad student and it ...
Reviewed in the United States on January 12, 2018
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Xmas present for my cousin's son. It was recommended to me by a Math Grad student and it was a great recommendation. The boy blew through it in 2 days, he liked it so much.
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Y. Rosenblatt
5.0 out of 5 stars Buy this book!
Reviewed in the United States on July 22, 2015
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This it a triple A book. Written with high intellect, it is very entertaining.
I read it a few times!
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars great book
Reviewed in the United States on November 6, 2015
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Martin Gardner's books are always fascinating. My 8-year-old math geek loves loves loves them.
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Amazon Customer
3.0 out of 5 stars Great Boook, boyght used got one with torn cover
Reviewed in the United States on October 30, 2023
Verified Purchase
Not sure why they sent me a copy with a torn cover. Great puzzle book for ages 10 and up
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Dongfeng Wu
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on June 11, 2017
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my boys love this book
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K. McCauley
5.0 out of 5 stars So smart, yet so easy to read.
Reviewed in the United States on May 22, 2012
The world is lesser without Martin Gardner in it.

Martin Gardner was a supremely intelligent mathematician with a real talent for explaining complex mathematical problems in a way that lay people could understand.

Gotcha! follows the same lines. It's kind of an odd book, in that the cartoony style is a little dated and it really looks more like a kid's book or a Young Adult book. Make no mistake, it's not, though young adults could certainly benefit and enjoy.

Gardner primarily approaches logical fallacies in this book. He uses the cartoons to walk you through exactly the wrong conclusion, then steps back and brilliantly deconstructs the argument so that you can see where your normal human condition fails you and why the unintuitive answer is the mathematically correct one. That said, he does it in a way that involves minimal math and only a basic understanding of logic and reason.

That's not to say the book is dumb or dumbed down. Nothing could be further from the truth. It tackles some very complex problems and some issues that have confounded mathematicians and logicians for centuries. Some of the problems don't even have an answer, and he even manages to walk you through why we've been unable to answer the question even though the answer seems obvious.

Overall, it's just a delightful book that's easy to read and leaves you much smarter than you were when you started it. There's not many books that can make such a claim.
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Lengo67
4.0 out of 5 stars Highly Entertaining!
Reviewed in the United States on January 30, 2012
I recently dusted off my copy of this that had been sitting long on the shelf. That turned out to be a very good thing.

Martin Gardner takes a look at paradoxes and makes them very easy to understand, entertaining, and highly absorbing. He takes the reader from the easiest to understand (the liar's paradox) to the more difficult, including mathematical ones. He describes paradoxes that entertained the ancient Greeks; paradoxes in the Bible; and paradoxes created by modern writers and comedians. Most of the paradoxes are covered in one or two pages, and each comes with cartoon illustrations to make them easy to understand. The book is both serious and delightfully funny. If you are looking for something that is escapist yet pertinent to real life, you'll enjoy this short book that is 160 pages long.

There are places where Mr. Gardner's grammar is a little less than clear. I found myself having to read an occasional sentence where the structure wasn't as clear as it could be. However, this is easily overlooked because of the content. It's fairly easy to rearrange a sentence so that you can understand what he is saying, but for the most part, the writing is lucid and easily understood.

This is the kind of book that you can read, two or three pages at a time. This makes for a good coffee table book. It is also the kind of book that can be used to find out more about a certain kind of paradox by looking it up by name on the Internet when you want more material to illustrate it. Mr. Gardner does not pull these paradoxes out of thin air. Most are widely known by either philosophers, writers, comedians, and even mathematicians.

If you're looking for entertainment that is good brain food, you'll find this book very fulfilling. Get it. Read it. It's both entertaining and thought provoking.
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Top reviews from other countries

Moodynic
5.0 out of 5 stars Great. Very interesting and thought provoking.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 29, 2017
Verified Purchase
Get comfy because this draws you in for a while. Gets the brain matter lighting up.
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EDC Canada
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in Canada on August 17, 2016
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My personal hero. Martin Gardner's entire series of books are a must have.
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