Martin Gardner grew up in and around Tulsa, Oklahoma . During World War II , he served for several years in the U.S. Navy as a yeoman. While his primary duty was signaling by means of flags and lights, demanding superb eyesight, he was also secretary to the ship's captain and other officers. So early on he was a professional writer.
After the War, Gardner attended college at the University Of Chicago and earned a bachelor's degree in philosophy there. He also attended graduate school at the University of Chicago, but he did not earn a master's degree there. The rest of his immense education he achieved independently through his wide reading and library research.
For many decades, he, his wife, and his children lived in relative seclusion in North Carolina , where he earned his living as an independent author, publishing books with several different publishers, and also publishing hundreds of magazine articles in various magazines. He and his wife had a long and happy marriage until her death in 2004.
Martin Gardner more or less singlehandedly sustained and nurtured interest in recreational mathematics in the U.S. for a large part of the 20th century. He is best known for his decades-long efforts in popular mathematics and science journalism, particularly through his "Mathematical Games" column in ''Scientific American''.
The "Mathematical Games" column ran from 1956 to 1981 and introduced many subjects to a wider audience, including:
In 1981, on Gardner's retirement, the column was replaced by Douglas Hofstadter 's " Metamagical Themas ", a name that is an Anagram of "Mathematical Games".
Gardner also wrote a "puzzle" story column for (Isaac) '' Asimov's Science Fiction '' magazine for a while in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Gardner's uncompromising attitude toward pseudoscience has made him one of the world's foremost anti-'', 1981; '' Order And Surprise '', 1983, etc) earned him a wealth of detractors and antagonists in the field of "fringe science" with many of whom he kept up running dialogs (both public and private) for decades.
In 1976, he was a founding member of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal ( and professes belief in God , although he is critical of organized religion. Gardner has been quoted as saying that he regards parapsychology and other research into the paranormal as tantamount to "tempting God" and seeking "signs and wonders". He has however said that he feels it might be possible that prayers may be genuinely answered, a view that would be unlikely to garner much sympathy from other CSICOP fellows. {Link without Title}
Gardner has had an abiding fascination in religious belief. He has written repeatedly about what public figures such as Robert Maynard Hutchins , Mortimer Adler , and William F. Buckley, Jr. believed and whether their beliefs were logically consistent. In some cases, he has attacked prominent religious figures such as Mary Baker Eddy on the grounds that their claims are unsupportable. His semi-autobiographical novel ''The Flight of Peter Fromm'' depicts a traditionally Protestant Christian man struggling with his faith, examining 20th century scholarship and intellectual movements and ultimately rejecting Christianity while remaining a theist. He describes his own belief as Philosophical Theism inspired by the theology of the philosopher Miguel De Unamuno . While critical of organized religions, Gardner believes in God, claiming that this belief cannot be confirmed or disconfirmed by reason. At the same time, he is skeptical of claims that God has communicated with human beings through spoken or telepathic revelation or through miracles in the natural world.
Gardner's philosophy may be summarized as follows: There is nothing supernatural, and nothing in human reason or visible in the world to compel people to believe in God. The mystery of existence is enchanting, but a belief in The Old One comes from faith without evidence. However, with faith and prayer people can find greater happiness than without. If there is an afterlife, the loving Old One is real. " an atheist the universe is the most exquisite masterpiece ever constructed by nobody", from G. K. Chesterton , is one of Martin's favorite quotes.
Gardner has been considered an authority on Lewis Carroll ; his annotated editions of Carroll's works were reissued in 1999 as '' The Annotated Alice ''. His viewpoint has recently come under some criticism from the proponents of the "Carroll Myth" ; Gardner has hit back very aggressively against the most famous of these - Karoline Leach - in a recent issue of '' Knight Letter '', the journal of the Lewis Carroll Society Of North America .
In addition to his Carroll books, Gardner has produced “Annotated” editions of Chesterton’s '' The Innocence Of Father Brown '' and '' The Man Who Was Thursday '' as well as of celebrated poems including '' The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner '', '' Casey At The Bat '' and '' The Night Before Christmas ''.
Gardner has occasionally tried his hand at fiction of a kind always closely associated with his non-fictional preoccupations (e.g., '' Visitors From Oz ,'' based on L. Frank Baum 's '' The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz '', and stories about an imaginary Numerologist named Dr. Matrix ). His short stories are collected in ''The No-Sided Professor and Other Tales of Fantasy, Humor, Mystery, and Philosophy'' (1987).
In addition to his expository writing about mathematics, Gardner has been an avid controversialist on contemporary issues, arguing for his points of view in a wide range of fields, from General Semantics to Fuzzy Logic to watching TV (he once wrote a negative review of Jerry Mander 's book ''Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television''). Though particularly well known for his critique of pseudo-scientific beliefs, Gardner has also taken sides on political, economic, historical and philosophical controversies. His philosophical views, for example, are described and defended in his book ''The Whys of a Philosophical Scrivener.''
Gardner is well known for his sometimes controversial philosophy of mathematics. He wrote negative reviews of '' The Mathematical Experience '' by Philip J. Davis and Reuben Hersh and ''What is mathematics, really?'' by Hersh, both of which had criticisms of aspects of mathematical Platonism and the first of which was well-received by the mathematical community. While Gardner is often perceived as a hard-core Platonist, his reviews demonstrate some formalist tendencies. Among Gardner's claims are that his views are widespread among mathematicians, but Hersh has countered that in his experience as a professional mathematician and speaker, this is not the case. {Link without Title}
- 1956 ''Mathematics, Magic and Mystery'' Dover ; ISBN 0-486-20335-2
- 1957 ''Science Puzzlers'' The Viking Press, Scholastic Book Services
- 1957 '' Fads And Fallacies In The Name Of Science '' Dover; ISBN 0-486-20394-8
- 1957 ''Great Essays in Science'' (editor); Prometheus Books (Reprint edition 1994) ISBN 0-87975-853-8
- 1957 ''The Wizard of Oz and Who He Was''. (with Russel B. Nye) Michigan State University Press. Revised 1994.
- 1958 ''Logic Machines and Diagrams''. McGraw-Hill New York
- 1960 '' The Annotated Alice '' New York: Bramhall House Clarkson Potter. Lib of Congress #60-7341 (no ISBN)
- 1962 ''The Annotated Snark'' New York: Simon & Schuster. (Unabridged ''Hunting Of The Snark'' with introduction and ''extensive'' notes from Gardner). 1998 reprint, Penguin Classics; ISBN 0-14-043491-7
- 1962 ''Relativity for the Million'' New York: MacMillan Company (o.p.). Revised and updated 1976 as ''The Relativity Explosion'' New York: Vintage Books. Revised and enlarged 1996 as ''Relativity Simply Explained'' New York: Dover; ISBN 0-486-29315-7
- 1964 ''The Ambidextrous Universe: Mirror Asymmetry and Time-Reversed Worlds'' (updated 1990, to be re-released with updates June 9 2005 as ''The New Ambidextrous Universe : Symmetry and Asymmetry from Mirror Reflections to Superstrings: Revised Edition'', Dover; ISBN 0-486-44244-6
- 1965 ''The Annotated Ancient Mariner'' New York: Clarkson Potter, Reprint. Prometheus. ISBN 1-59102-125-1
- 1967 ''Annotated Casey at the Bat: A Collection of Ballads about the Mighty Casey'' New York: Clarkson Potter. Reprint. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1984. ISBN 0-226-28263-5 Reprint. New York: Dover, 1995. ISBN 0-486-28598-7
- 1973 ''The Flight of Peter Fromm'', Los Altos, California: William Kaufmann, Inc. Prometheus Books; Reprint edition ( 1994 ) ISBN 0-87975-911-9
- 1975 ''Mathematical Carnival: A New Round-up of Tantalizers and Puzzles from "Scientific American"'', Knopf Publishing Group; ISBN 0-394-49406-7
- 1976 ''The Incredible Dr. Matrix'', New York, Charles Scribner's Sons; ISBN 0-684-14669-X
- 1978 ''Aha! Insight'', W.H. Freeman & Company; ISBN 0-7167-1017-X
- 1981 ''Science: Good, Bad, and Bogus'', Prometheus Books; ISBN 0-87975-573-3 (paperback), ISBN 0-87975-144-4 (hardback), ISBN 0-380-61754-4 (Avon pocket paperback)
- 1981 ''Entertaining Science Experiments With Everyday Objects''; Dover; ISBN 0-486-24201-3
- 1982 ''Aha! Gotcha: Paradoxes to Puzzle and Delight'' (Tools for Transformation); W.H. Freeman & Company; ISBN 0-7167-1361-6
- 1983 ''The Whys of a Philosophical Scrivener'', 1999 reprint St. Martin's Griffin; ISBN 0-312-20682-8
- 1983 ''Order and Surprise''
- 1984 ''Codes, Ciphers and Secret Writing (Test Your Code Breaking Skills)'', Dover; ISBN 0-486-24761-9
- 1985 ''Magic Numbers of Dr Matrix'', Prometheus Books; ISBN 0-87975-282-3
- 1986 ''Entertaining Mathematical Puzzles'', Dover; ISBN 0-486-25211-6
- 1987 ''The No-Sided Professor and other tales of fantasy, humor, mystery, and philosophy'', Prometheus Books; ISBN 0-87975-390-0
- 1987 ''The Annotated Innocence of Father Brown'' Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-217748-6 (Notes by Gardner, on G.K. Chesterton ’s stories).
- 1987 ''Riddles of the Sphinx'' Mathematical Association of American, ISBN 0-88385-632-8 (collection of articles from Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine )
- 1987 ''Time Travel and Other Mathematical Bewilderments'', W.H. Freeman & Company; ISBN 0-7167-1925-8
- 1988 ''Perplexing Puzzles and Tantalizing Teasers'', Dover; ISBN 0-486-25637-5
- 1988 ''New Age: Notes of a Fringe Watcher'', Prometheus Books; ISBN 0-87975-432-X (collection of "Notes of a Fringe Watcher" columns)
- 1991 ''The Unexpected Hanging and Other Mathematical Diversions'', University Of Chicago Press; Reprint edition; ISBN 0-226-28256-2
- 1991 ''The Annotated Night Before Christmas: A Collection Of Sequels, Parodies, And Imitations Of Clement Moore's Immortal Ballad About Santa Claus Edited, with an introduction and notes, by Martin Gardner'', Summit Books (Reprinted, Prometheus Books , 1995); ISBN 0-671-70839-2
- 1991 ''Fractal Music, Hypercards and More''; W. H. Freeman
- 1992 ''On the Wild Side'', Prometheus Books; ISBN 0-87975-713-2 (collection of "Notes of a Fringe Watcher" columns)
- 1993 ''The Healing Revelations of Mary Baker Eddy'', Prometheus Books,
- 1994 ''My Best Mathematical and Logic Puzzles'', Dover; ISBN 0-486-28152-3
- 1995 ''Classic Brainteasers'', Sterling Publishing; ISBN 0-8069-1261-8
- 1995 '' Urantia : The Great Cult Mystery'', Prometheus Books; ISBN 0-87975-955-0
- 1996 ''Weird Water & Fuzzy Logic: More Notes of a Fringe Watcher'', Prometheus Books; ISBN 1-57392-096-7 (collection of "Notes of a Fringe Watcher" columns)
- 1997 ''The Night Is Large : Collected Essays, 1938-1995'', St. Martin's Griffin; ISBN 0-312-16949-3
- 1998 ''Calculus Made Easy'', St. Martin's Press; Revised edition ISBN 0-312-18548-0 (Revisions and additions to the 1910 calculus textbook by Silvanus P. Thompson .)
- 1998 ''Martin Gardner's Table Magic'', Dover; ISBN 0-486-40403-X
- 1998 ''Mathematical Recreations: A Collection in Honor of Martin Gardner'', Dover; ISBN 0486400891 - This book, edited by David A. Klamer , was the tribute of the mathematical community to Gardner when he retired from writing his Scientific American column in 1981. (The Dover edition is a reprint of the original, titled ''The Mathematical Gardner'', published by Wadsworth.) Discreetly assembled for the occasion, the stature of the mathematicians submitting papers is a testament to Gardner's importance.
- 1999 ''Gardner's Whys & Wherefores'' Prometheus Books; ISBN 1-57392-744-9
- 1999 '' The Annotated Alice : The Definitive Edition'' ; W.W. Norton & Company; ISBN 0-393-04847-0
- 1999 ''The Annotated Thursday: G.K. Chesterton's Masterpiece, the Man Who Was Thursday by G. K. Chesterton'', Edited by Martin Gardner.
- 2000 ''From the Wandering Jew to William F. Buckley, Jr. : On Science, Literature, and Religion'', Prometheus Books; ISBN 1-57392-852-6
- 2000 ''The Annotated Wizard of Oz'', New York: W.W. Norton & Company; ISBN 0-393-04992-2
- 2001 ''A Gardner's Workout: Training the Mind and Entertaining the Spirit'' ISBN 1-56881-120-9
- 2001 ''Mathematical Puzzle Tales''; Mathematical Association of America ISBN 0-88385-533-X (collection of articles from Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine )
- 2001 ''Did Adam and Eve Have Navels?: Debunking Pseudoscience'', W.W. Norton & Company; ISBN 0-393-32238-6 (collection of "Notes of a Fringe Watcher" columns)
- 2002 ''Martin Gardner's Favorite Poetic Parodies'' Prometheus Books; ISBN 1-57392-925-5
- 2003 ''Are Universes Thicker Than Blackberries?: Discourses on Gödel, Magic Hexagrams, Little Red Riding Hood, and Other Mathematical and Pseudoscientific Topics'', ISBN 0-393-05742-9 (collection of "Notes of a Fringe Watcher" columns and others)
- 2004 ''Smart Science Tricks'', Sterling; ISBN 1-4027-0910-2
- (For a downloadable version of ''The Mathemagician and the Pied Puzzler'', another tribute book, see external links below)
Note: Gardner has a number of magic books written " For The Trade ", which are not listed here.
Fifteen books together encompass Martin Gardner's columns from ''Scientific American'':
- ''Hexaflexagons and Other Mathematical Diversions: The First Scientific American Book of Puzzles and Games'' 1959; University of Chicago Press 1988 ISBN 0-226-28254-6 (originally published as ''The Scientific American Book of Mathematical Puzzles and Diversions'')
- ''The Second Scientific American Book of Mathematical Puzzles and Diversions'' 1961; University of Chicago Press 1987; ISBN 0-226-28253-8
- ''Martin Gardner's New Mathematical Diversions from Scientific American'' 1966; Simon and Schuster; reprinted by Mathematical Association Of America 1995
- ''Numerology of Dr. Matrix'' 1967; reprinted/expanded as ''The Magic Numbers of Dr. Matrix''; Prometheus Books; ISBN 0-87975-281-5 / ISBN 0-87975-282-3
- ''Unexpected Hangings, and Other Mathematical Diversions'' Simon & Schuster 1968; reprinted by University of Chicago Press, 1991 ISBN 0-671-20073-9
- ''The Sixth Scientific American Book of Mathematical Puzzles and Diversions'' Simon & Schuster 1971
- ''Mathematical Carnival'' Vintage 1975; reprinted by Mathematical Association Of America
- ''Mathematical Magic Show'' Vintage 1977; reprinted by Mathematical Association Of America
- ''Mathematical Circus'' Vintage 1979; reprinted by Mathematical Association Of America
- ''Wheels, Life, and Other Mathematical Amusements'' 1983; W. H. Freeman & Co. ISBN 0-7167-1589-9
- ''Knotted Doughnuts and Other Mathematical Entertainments'' 1986; W. H. Freeman & Co. ISBN 0-7167-1799-9
- ''Time Travel and Other Mathematical Bewilderments'' 1988; W. H. Freeman & Co. ISBN 0-7167-1925-8
- ''Penrose Tiles to Trapdoor Ciphers'' 1989; W. H. Freeman & Co. ISBN 0-7167-1987-8; reprinted by Mathematical Association Of America
- ''Fractal Music, Hypercards and More'' 1991; W. H. Freeman
- ''Last Recreations: Hydras, Eggs, and other Mathematical Mystifications'' 1997; Springer Verlag; ISBN 0-387-94929-1
Three other books collect some or all of Martin Gardner's columns from Scientific American:
- ''The Colossal Book of Mathematics: Classic Puzzles, Paradoxes, and Problems'' 2001; W.W. Norton & Company; ISBN 0-393-02023-1 (a "best of" collection)
- ''Martin Gardner's Mathematical Games'' 2005; Mathematical Association Of America ; ISBN 0-88385-545-3 (CD-ROM of all fifteen books above, encompassing all articles in the column)
- ''The Colossal Book of Short Puzzles and Problems'' 2006; W.W. Norton & Company; ISBN 0-393-06114-0
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