The autobiography of the beloved writer who inspired a generation to
study math and science
Martin Gardner wrote the Mathematical Games column for Scientific
American for twenty-five years and published more than seventy books on
topics as diverse as magic, religion, and Alice in Wonderland.
Gardner's illuminating autobiography is a candid self-portrait by the
man evolutionary theorist Stephen Jay Gould called our "single brightest
beacon" for the defense of rationality and good science against
mysticism and anti-intellectualism.
Gardner takes readers from his childhood in Oklahoma to his varied and
wide-ranging professional pursuits. He shares colorful anecdotes about
the many fascinating people he met and mentored, and voices strong
opinions on the subjects that matter to him most, from his love of
mathematics to his uncompromising stance against pseudoscience. For
Gardner, our mathematically structured universe is undiluted
hocus-pocus--a marvelous enigma, in other words.
Undiluted Hocus-Pocus offers a rare, intimate look at Gardner's life
and work, and the experiences that shaped both.