Undiluted Hocus-Pocus

Most magicians know Martin Gardner for two things: his research into Erdnase and his Enceyclopedia of Impromptu Magic. While he would be celebrated even if that was all that he did, he was actually a James Randi-like figure who had a large impact on recreational mathematics and the skeptic community. Undiluted Hocus Pocus reminds us of why magic is so important in the world and what magic can teach us about pseudoscience and rational thinking, told through the story of one of the most eccentric people to contribute to our art. 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.