Try free for 30 days

A 30-day trial plus your first audiobook free.
1 credit/month after trial—to buy any title you like, yours to keep.
Listen all you want to a selection of thousands of Audible Originals, audiobooks and podcasts.
$16.45 a month after 30 day trial. Cancel anytime.
Martin Gardner cover art

Martin Gardner

By: Scientific American
Narrated by: Kate Mulligan
Free with 30-day trial

$16.45/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $25.99

Buy Now for $25.99

Pay using voucher balance (if applicable) then card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions Of Use and Privacy Notice and authorise Audible to charge your designated credit card or another available credit card on file.

Publisher's Summary

How many people achieve a cult following because of their writing in mathematics? Only a handful, and Martin Gardner is among the most well-known and well-loved.

Not only did he present a notoriously difficult subject in an engaging and accessible way, but in doing so, he attracted an incredibly broad readership. His correspondents ranged from academics like Roger Penrose and John Horton Conway to artists MC Escher and Salvador Dali to writer Isaac Asimov. His “Mathematical Games” column in Scientific American ran nearly every month for 26 years and was one of the most popular in the magazine’s history.

In this anthology, we strove to create a new “slice” through his wealth of material. Here, we focus on all flavors of numbers, from common integers and negative numbers to figurate numbers and the exotic random number Omega, which can be described but not computed.

Some of these columns are less well-known, but they are no less fun. In true Gardner fashion, they leap from magic and games - as well as art, music, and literature - to flashes of deep mathematical insight. We hope that they will prove as inspirational now as they did to earlier audiences. 

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2017 Scientific American, a division of Nature America, Inc. Scientific American is a registered trademark of Nature America, Inc. (P)2020 Blackstone Publishing

What listeners say about Martin Gardner

Average Customer Ratings

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.