# Martin Gardner, 1914-2010 **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 23, 2010, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-gardner-1914-2010/540426 "2010-05-23T02:33:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2010, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-gardner-1914-2010/540426/21 "2010-05-24T02:43:21Z")
My favorite anecdote about Martin Gardner is that he originated the now famous list of “coincidences” about the lives of Abraham Lincoln and John Kennedy after his assassination. He did it deadpan in one of his early columns about “numerologist” [Dr. Matrix](http://www.amazon.com/Magic-Numbers-Matrix-Martin-Gardner/dp/0879752823/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1274668551&sr=8-2) as a way of showing how ridiculously easy it is to put together a list of similarities that have apparent deep meaning. Of course, people have taken it seriously and added to it continually over the years, making his point in the most ironic fashion. I have all the rest of his Scientific American column books as well. They and the Isaac Asimov science columns in F&SF were my favorites as introductions to science and math. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2010, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-gardner-1914-2010/540426/22 "2010-05-24T03:30:02Z")
☹ Well, phooey. > [@CalMeacham](#): > > I’m not surprised – he was definitely getting on in years, but I was amazed at how he still kept writing. I’m not surprised either, really… I mean, the thread title caught me by surprise, but in a “I knew it was bound to happen sooner or later” kind of way. > [@](#): > > If you get a chance, read his book **Whys of a Philosophical Scrivener**. Very unlike most of his other published stuff. Absolutely—highly recommended. I figure the average IQ of the world just went down by a couple of points. “I think Martin knows everything.” -Isaac Asimov ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2010, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-gardner-1914-2010/540426/23 "2010-05-24T05:09:15Z")
> [@Exapno Mapcase](#): > > I have all the rest of his Scientific American column books as well. They and the Isaac Asimov science columns in F&SF were my favorites as introductions to science and math. Me too. I also have _The Annotated Alice_ in paperback, as well as the hardcover _More Annotated Alice_ and _The Annotated Alice: The Definitive Edition_. > [@Valgard](#): > > Well damn. I have some of his books (Aha! and What Is The Name Of This Book? amongst them) The latter is by Raymond Smullyan. Gardner did promote it, and it is a great book. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2010, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-gardner-1914-2010/540426/24 "2010-05-24T13:42:35Z")
I absolutely love the Annotated Alice books. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2010, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-gardner-1914-2010/540426/25 "2010-05-24T13:59:16Z")
Too bad, a great loss. BTW I believe he just came out with a new book. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2010, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-gardner-1914-2010/540426/26 "2010-05-24T15:33:16Z")
Martin Gardner was a strong influence on me to enjoy mathematics, science and computer programming. One of the reasons I learned to code was to solve his puzzles. I wrote to him about one of my programming solutions when I in junior high and he actually wrote back a very encouraging letter. The world needs more people like him. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2010, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-gardner-1914-2010/540426/27 "2010-05-24T16:04:54Z")
Thanks for posting this - I missed it. Liked his _Scientific American_ column. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2010, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-gardner-1914-2010/540426/28 "2010-05-24T17:26:59Z")
Don’t have anything more to add for Gardner, but will just toss in this anecdote: There was an actor [Martin Garner](http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=14469820), who specialized in bit parts playing little Jewish old men. At one time, his entry on findagrave actually showed a photo of the still-living Martin Gar **d** ner. When I saw it, I alerted the person who had posted it, but I don’t know if my message was enough to convince them. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2010, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-gardner-1914-2010/540426/29 "2010-05-24T17:30:01Z")
I read _Fads and Fallacies_ some time when I was in junior high, I think; it still forms the primary basis of my knowledge about a lot of crank science. ---
**Author:** ![Damfino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Damfino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damfino)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2010, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-gardner-1914-2010/540426/30 "2010-05-24T20:44:29Z")
_Fads and Fallacies_ and _The Annotated Alice_ are amongst my favourite books. Sad to hear of his departure. RIP. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-gardner-1914-2010/540426/31 "2010-05-25T22:37:10Z")
Like many here, I loved his “Mathematical Games” column in Scientific American. For a while, when I was a teenager in the 70s, I had a subscription. His column was the one thing I would never skip a word of. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-gardner-1914-2010/540426/32 "2010-05-27T01:23:53Z")
Martin Gardner was one of my favourite people too, and I am sad to hear of his death. My dad was a fan, and when I was a kid there were always a few Gardner books such as “Mathematical Puzzles and Diversions” around the house, which some of us kids got round to reading ourselves. My love of puzzles and recreational mathematics goes directly back to those books. They were stuffed full of intriguing notions. The Unexpected Hanging. Cantor’s intoxicating proofs of different levels of infinity. The fascinating and novel puzzles. And so on. They really were a treasure trove of ideas. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-gardner-1914-2010/540426/33 "2010-05-27T04:36:14Z")
The guy was a real polymath, in a way that isn’t really possible today. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2010, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-gardner-1914-2010/540426/34 "2010-06-01T15:04:56Z")
What do you mean it isn’t possible to be a similar sort of polymath today? I know lots of people whose interests are as wide as Gardner’s. They haven’t written a wide range of essays and books like he did, but that’s always going to be a rare thing. Being an extremely prolific author will always be rare, but it’s really not that difficult to be extremely varied in one’s interests. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-gardner-1914-2010/540426.md?page=1)