This book has excerpted material also found in Gardner's mammoth "Encyclopedia of Impromptu Magic," and the material, as the title suggests, is limited to items performable in an after-dinner setting. This is the sort of magic, when one produces seemingly off-the-cuff miracles, that helped great magicians, such as Alexander Herrmann, Max Malini, Nate Leipzig and Dai Vernon become legends. For if you can do magic any time, anywhere, with anything, then the magic is not in the props, but in YOU!

The most recent person to take advantage of the power of seemingly casual magic is, of course, David Blaine. He has created the illusion that magic happens wherever he goes. And David Blaine is the magician foremost in the public's mind.

Do not be put off by the apparent simplicity of these magic tricks. Done well, at the right moment, they are reputation-makers. Gardner has a knack for finding excellent yet simple material. This simplicity is usually only achieved by rank beginners and hardened professionals. In this book, it can be yours.

Just one thing: show the author the respect he deserves, and rehearse these well and perform them excellently.

The late Paul Erdos was widely known as a disseminator of mathematics, and yet his impact on the progress of mathematics may not match that of Martin Gardner. For twenty-five years, he wrote a regular column on "Mathematical Games" for Scientific American and other articles have appeared in many other venues since his "retirement" from SA in 1982. Personally, it is a very rare occasion when I encounter an American mathematician who was not strongly influenced by reading something by Gardner. Many, like myself, read it religiously, considering it the high point of each issue. It is hard to underestimate the number of people who were steered towards a career in mathematics by Gardner or had their interest increased by reading one or more of his papers.
In 1993, the first gathering for Gardner (G4G1) was held in Atlanta, where he was honored for all of his work in making mathematics interesting and entertaining. As befits a gathering of this type, many people wrote papers in the areas of magic, puzzles and mathematics to be presented at the conference. Those papers, plus a few that didn't make it into the official list, have been gathered together to make this book.
The papers are split into three categories: Personal Magic, Puzzlers and Mathemagics. While none were authored by the master, they all clearly bear his stylistic signature. The presentation is clear, entertaining and all reach the point quickly and effectively. I was so intrigued by them that it was the only thing that I read once I obtained a copy, to the detriment of the quality of a lecture on the programming language Java.
This is the highest tribute that any professional writer can achieve, when others are motivated to write material similar to yours to be collected and presented at a conference in your honor. Gardner deserves that and more and every paper in this collection is comparable to his work in quality.

Published in Journal of Recreational Mathematics, reprinted with permission.

On first thought, one would expect a circus that lacks clowns and elephants to be dull, dull, dull, but in this case that thought is wrong, wrong, wrong. The difference is of course in the quality of the ringmaster. From the first sound of "step right up folks," to when the lights fade out in the bigtop, one is led from one exciting ring to another. For the author does what all accomplished circus acts do, he makes the difficult seem easy.
This material, like that of many of his books, originally appeared in the "Mathematical Games" column of Scientific American. Some of the puzzles explored here are optical illusions, eccentric chess, patterns of induction, dominoes, and matches. Along the way he also discusses artificial intelligence, the solar system, and the abacus. And all are of course in his simplistic, yet complete style that has made him a favorite for nearly forty years.
If you are a fan of Martin Gardner, you have probably already read this book. If you are unfamiliar with his work, then change that state at the first opportunity. You will be glad you did.

Published in Journal of Recreational Mathematics, reprinted with permission.

You'll never tire of thumbing through this book from time to time and trying some of the author's "magic" on yourself and/or your friends. It's the kind of book you'd buy as a gift for your child or grand-child--after you've read it for yourself first, of course! It's a "keepsake" sort of volume that will never grow tiresome.

This book is very nice. It teaches you how to do magic with any houshold items. There are 2 chapters with cards too. NONE of the tricks described here use any sort of slight of hand. It is 100% mathematical tricks than ANYONE can do. And they are all nice cloe-up tricks which are the type of tricks which are most baffling. Martin Garder, the author of this book is a very talented writer. He wrote many books on mathematics and science. This is a great book and I recomend EVERYONE should get it even if they are not into magic that much.

I am a longtime gamer who probably has spent more on rolegaming then I can afford since the late 1980's. My shelves are filled with books for dozens of game-systems but Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay (WFRP) remains one of my personal favourites.

This superlative product was originally published by Games Workshop as two separate books: Power Behind the Throne and Warhammer City - Middenheim. This Hogshead version has the full material from both books in one handy volume. The first section of the book, Power Behind the Throne details an extremely intricate conspiracy by the forces of Chaos in the city Middenheim.

A distinct contrast to the wimpy plots so prevalent in the fantasy roleplaying industry, this is a grade-A, master-level investigative scenario for the veteran player. The huge cast of characters each playing a part in the adventure, yet having motivations and plans of their own, make this adventure a real challenge for players and gamemasters.

This book should be on every gamer's shelf, regardless of which game system you play as an example of how it should be done. Be warned though, the deep roleplaying and many conversations required will bore the combat-oriented player to tears. Real roleplayers who fancy themselves as the fantasy equivalent of Poirot or Holmes will have the case of their lives to unravel.

In 1998 this widely loved classic was reissued, with an afterword by the author and updated references, with the title HEXAFLEXAGONS AND OTHER MATHEMATICAL DIVERSIONS :
THE FIRST SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN BOOK OF PUZZLES AND GAMES.

Martin Gardner comes through again with a great book of puzzles. There is a lot of material here to keep you thinking for quite a while. One of the better book of puzzles I have seen.

We bought the "Taming fo the Shrew" box because we knew that the box contained a blond wig, funny glasses and a broken recorder. The kids just had to have the props. But what I didn't expect was how enthusiastic the whole group of kids was to perform the play at our family reunion. It truly took about 30 minutes for the kids, ages 11-14 (with one adult present but not presiding), to assign all the parts, quickly rehearse and get their act together. The play has been perfectly abridged so that it makes sense to the kids as well as to their audience and is such a great way to entertain at a family or social gathering, much better than "How to Host a Murder" which is so much more work than this. My only advice would be to go over the pronuciation of all names with the whole "cast" before show time. There were a few glitches, but it all made for bigger laughs! (Wish there were more than just the two sets!)

This book is another great collection of problems, discussions, and mathematical curiosities from Martin Gardner - and one of his best.

In this book, Martin Gardner has assembled an absorbing discussion on the theoretical aspects and possibility of time travel, including the many paradoxes that may arise; two problem collections to give to try out yourself and give to your friends; two chapters on tangrams and tiling each; along with 15 more chapters on interesting topics such as the melody-making machines, anamorphic art, block packing and more.

Particularly interesting are the chapters "Six Sensational Discoveries" and "Dodgem and Other Simple Games." The former is a collection of six April Fool's jokes he published in April of 1975. The latter is an extensive and occupying discussion of simple games that one can play with friends, along with winning strategies for some and just mathematical theories for others.

I strongly recommend this book for those interested in mathematical curiousities and the likeness. It is especially interesting for children of ages 6-12; they may not understand everything, but certain chapters they will remember and revisit forever!