100,000+ Books, Games & Puzzles in-stock πŸ‡³πŸ‡Ώ

Overnight NZ-wide delivery on in-stock orders πŸš€

The Colossal Book of Short Puzzles and Problems

4.39 goodreads logo

Ratings/reviews counts are updated frequently.

Check link for latest rating.
( 149 ratings, 7 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Martin Gardner, renowned for his long-standing contributions to Scientific American, presents a collection of short and inventive puzzles and problems. Spanning physics, probability, topology, and chess, these puzzles range from easy to challenging and are grouped by subject. This volume, complementing The Colossal Book of Mathematics, includes over 300 illustrations and nine new puzzles gathered by Gardner over the last decade. It stands as a testament to his seventy-year career in popular mathematics.
Read More
Format: Hardback
$8900

International Supplier

This title is in-stock with overseas suppliers. While it is not available locally, we fly books in weekly from the US and UK to our Auckland warehouse for immediate dispatch.

AVAILABLE WITH SUPPLIER Ships from our Auckland warehouse within 2-3 weeks

Found a better price? Request a price match

Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

Ideal for amateur and expert maths enthusiasts who appreciate witty, elegant explorations and enjoy challenging their problem-solving skills.

Book Hero thinking about your next read

Finally collected in one volume, Martin Gardner's immensely popular short puzzles; along with a few new ones from the master.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

For more than twenty-five years, Martin Gardner was Scientific American's renowned provocateur of popular math. His yearly gatherings of short and inventive problems were easily his most anticipated math columns. Loyal readers would savour the wit and elegance of his explorations in physics, probability, topology, and chess, among others.

Grouped by subject and arrayed from easiest to hardest, the puzzles gathered here, which complement the lengthier, more involved problems in The Colossal Book of Mathematics, have been selected by Gardner for their illuminatingβ€”and often bewilderingβ€”solutions.

Filled with over 300 illustrations, this new volume even contains nine new mathematical gems that Gardner, now ninety, has been gathering for the last decade. No amateur or expert math lover should be without this indispensable volumeβ€”a capstone to Gardner's seventy-year career.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

"A remarkable retrospective of [Gardner's] astonishingly influential career as an expositor extraordinaire."

Book Hero reading reviews

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780393061147

Publisher: WW Norton & Co

Format: Hardback

Date Published: 17 December 2005

Country: United States

Imprint: WW Norton & Co

Illustration: 308 illustrations

Contributors:

  • Edited by Dana Richards

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 33.0mm

Width: 188.0mm

Height: 244.0mm

Weight: 993g

Pages: 512

About the Author

Martin Gardner (1914-2010) is regarded as one of the world's leading experts on Lewis Carroll and his work. The author of more than a hundred books, he wrote the "Mathematical Games" column for Scientific American for twenty-five years and has been hailed by Douglas Hofstadter as "one of the great intellects produced in this country in this century."

Also by Martin Gardner

View all
  • Are Universes Thicker Than Blackberries?
    In this new book, Gardner explores startling scientific concepts, such as the possibility of multiple universes and the theory that time can go backwards. Armed with his expert, sceptical eye, he examines the bizarre tangents produced by Freudians and deconstructionists in their critiques of Little Red Riding Hood, and reveals the fallacies of pseudoscientific cures, from Dr. Bruno Bettelheim’s erroneous...
    Paperback
    $2899
    Available
    Ships in 3-4 weeks
  • The Colossal Book of Mathematics
    Whether discussing hexaflexagons or number theory, Klein bottles or the essence of "nothing," Martin Gardner has single-handedly created the field of "recreational mathematics." The Colossal Book of Mathematics collects Gardner's most popular pieces from his legendary "Mathematical Games" column, which ran in Scientific American for twenty-five years. Gardner's array of absorbing puzzles and mind-twisting paradoxes opens mathematics up to the...
    Hardback
    $7599
    Available
    Ships in 3-4 weeks
  • Calculus Made Easy
    Calculus Made Easy by Silvanus P. Thompson and Martin Gardner has long been the most popular calculus primer. This major revision of the classic math text makes the subject at hand still more comprehensible to readers of all levels. With a new introduction, three new chapters, modernised language and methods throughout, and an appendix of challenging and enjoyable practice problems,...
    Hardback
    Sold Out

More from Humour

View all
  • Me vs Brain
    The hilarious book from TikTok and Insta sensation, Hayley Morris Brain - No one's going to buy your book Me - But it's good! My editor says so! Brain - Well she would, wouldn't she... Btw, didn't you leave your hair straighteners on? Me - I can't get into this now, I've got a book description to write Hello! Hayley...
    Paperback
    $2600
    Elsewhere:
    $3000
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • What A Way To Go
    The Million Copy #1 Bestselling Author of How to Kill Your Family is back with the new book of the moment. Featured in Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Sunday Times Style, You Magazine… 'Super-sharp, lethally witty' - NIGELLA LAWSON 'Delicious' - JOJO MOYES 'Very funny… I inhaled it' - JOE LYCETT β€˜Taut, pacy, seamless… a huge pleasure to read’ - MARIAN KEYES β€˜I...
    Paperback
    $3699
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Murdoku
    Place the suspects, reveal the killer! An innovative puzzle book that incorporates murder mysteries with sudoku-like logic. An addictive mix of cosy crime and colourful grid logic puzzles. These visually appealing, addictive puzzles drop solvers into immersive mini murder mysteries, combining the elegant simplicity of games like sudoku with the storytelling of classic logic problems. But Murdoku introduces its own...
    Paperback
    $3899
    Elsewhere:
    $4000
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Minute Cryptic
    Welcome to your brand-new wordplay obsession. From the creators of the hugely popular online puzzle platform, Minute Cryptic, comes this step-by-step guide to solving cryptic crosswords. With over 160 different clues for you to solve, each chapter takes you through a different wordplay concept essential for unlocking cryptic crossword clues. As you complete the book, you'll build your skills and...
    Paperback
    $2799
    Elsewhere:
    $3600
    (2)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • New Release
    Detective Beans and the Map of Mystery
    Enjoy this new DETECTIVE BEANS adventure in the bestselling and award-winning graphic novel series by Li Chen! Your favourite kitten detective is back with a new mystery to solve . . . and treasure to find! When Captain Scuttlebeard gives Beans a treasure map, Beans is determined to find the prize at the end. The clues take him all over...
    By Li Chen
    Paperback
    $1900
    Elsewhere:
    $2200
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • The Gate of the Feral Gods
    The fourth book in the explosive LitRPG Dungeon Crawler Carl series New Achievement! Total, Utter Failure.You failed a quest less than five minutes after you received it. Now that's talent. Surviving in a multilevel dungeon that also happens to be the set of the galaxy's most watched game show has taught Coast Guard vet Carl and his ex-girlfriend's cat, Princess...
    Hardback
    $6000
    (2)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • The Wedding People
    'BEST READ OF THE YEAR SO FAR' THE TIMES 'BOOKS AS FUN AS THIS ONE ARE FEW AND FAR BETWEEN' GUARDIAN Phoebe Stone arrives at a grand beachside hotel in Rhode Island wearing her best dress and least comfortable shoes. Immediately she is mistaken for one of the wedding people β€” but she's actually the only guest at the Cornwall...
    Paperback
    $2399
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    (3)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Women's Prize Winner
    The Correspondent
    84 Charing Cross Road meets A Man Called Ove in this heartwarming, witty story about the life of an extraordinary woman, told through her letters. In her letters to family and friends, we come to know the life of Sybil Van Antwerpβ€”stubborn, cantankerous, opinionated, always steadfast in her belief in the power of the written word. But as the clock...
    Paperback
    $2999
    Elsewhere:
    $3700
    (6)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Kitchen Confidential
    The classic bestseller from the star of Parts Unknown and No Reservations: 25th Anniversary edition, with a new introduction by Irvine Welsh. BEFORE THERE WAS THE BEAR, THERE WAS BOURDAIN. β€˜Elizabeth David written by Quentin Tarantino’ β€” A.A. Gill β€˜Fantastic: as lip-smackingly seductive as a bowl of fat chips and pungent aioli’ β€” Daily Telegraph After twenty-five years of sex,...
    Paperback
    $2500
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    (2)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Game On
    Book three in the No.1 New York Times bestselling Into Darkness series,following the dark rom-com sensations Lights Out and Caught Up. The game ison for these enemies-to-lovers with laugh-out-loud banter and scorching-hotbrat play. I hate that woman. Tyler Neumann has spent years looking for his father, and not because he wants to meetthe man. No, he wants to destroy him....
    Paperback
    $2299
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • The Eye of the Bedlam Bride
    The sixth book in the explosive LitRPG Dungeon Crawler Carl series. Chaos reigns on the eighth floor. Coast Guard vet Carl and Princess Donut have survived longerβ€”and climbed higherβ€”than anyone expected in the galaxy's favourite reality show, but now the game is wide open. The task: capture six monsters and turn them into battle cards. The stronger the creature, the...
    Hardback
    $6000
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • The Pumpkin Spice CafΓ© (Deluxe Edition)
    The first book of the viral Dream Harbor series by #1 New York Times and Sunday Times bestselling author Laurie Gilmore! 🍁 TikTok Made Me Buy It – Winner of the TikTok Shop Book of the Year 2024, Sunday Times and USA Today bestseller. As seen on Good Morning America! 🍁🍁🍁🍁 When Jeanie’s aunt gifts her the beloved Pumpkin Spice...
    Hardback
    $4000
    Elsewhere:
    $4500
    In Stock
    Ships today

Why buy from us?

Book Hero is not a chain store or big box retailer. We're an independent 100% NZ-owned business on a mission to help more Kiwis rediscover a love of books and reading!

Service & Delivery

Service & Delivery

Our warehouse in Auckland holds over 100,000 books, toys, board games and puzzles in-stock so you're not waiting for your order to arrive from overseas.

Auckland Bookstore

Auckland Bookstore

We're primarily an online store, but for your convenience you can pick up your order for free from our bookstore, which is right next door to our warehouse in Hobsonville.

Our Gifting Service

Our Gifting Service

Books make wonderful thoughtful gifts and we're here to help with gift-wrapping and cards. We can even send your gift directly to your loved one.