Martin Gardner RIP

[undyingking]

His Scientific American columns, which I read in collected form (Mathematical Carnival etc) in my mid-teens, really enthused me with the joy and fascination of maths and associated concepts, games and delightful trivialities, in a way that school had never managed. He wrote beautifully, clearly and rationally -- as a non-expert himself, he took the job of communication of meaning seriously, and handled it with immense skill. His tireless work contra pseudoscience is also deserving of great praise.

It was through Gardner that I learnt about hyperdimensions, Cantor's investigation of infinities, Conway's Game of Life, the art of MC Escher, the Fibonacci sequence, the tricks of lightning calculators, how to build a learning AI... and countless other topics that each expanded my mind in a new and exciting direction. In his memory, I'm going to dig those books out and read through them all again. And I really ought to get hold of The Annotated Alice.

Did you ever read Gardner, and do you have any favourite subjects he wrote about that made a particular impression on you?

Comments

[bateleur.livejournal.com]

I read Gardner - he was awesome!

My dad had a Scientific American subscription for years and I used to pick them up from where they'd been left lying around and read bits. Usually, Gardner's section was the best bit.

The column I remember best was one about evolving software algorithms. Many years later, researching in the field myself, I couldn't help thinking that his writing on the subject had been a lot better than many of the research papers.

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

Mm, he had a real gift for communication.