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Martin Gardner's 'The Annotated Alice' - NYTimes.com

OCTOBER14,2013,12:00PM

MartinGardnersTheAnnotatedAlice
ByGARYANTONICK

This week we continue to celebrate the life of the popular science and math writer Martin Gardner, who would have been 99 years old next week, on Oct. 21. Mr. Gardner published more than 100 books in a variety of fields: philosophy, religion, magic and as many Numberplay readers are probably aware recreational math puzzles. I recently wondered of everything Mr. Gardner has written, which has been his biggest seller? Theres My Best Mathematical and Logic Puzzles, which seems to be wedged onto every math bookshelf. And Aha! Insight. Everyone has a copy of that. And then theres Classic Brainteasers. But which book has been the most popular? I asked Martin Gardners son, Jim, whose answer surprised me: TheAnnotatedAlice.Byfar.Nothingelsecomesclose. The Annotated Alice: The Definitive Edition, published in 1999 by W. W. Norton, is a gorgeous book. From its cover: Foroverhalfacentury,MartinGardnerhasestablishedhimselfasoneofthe worldsleadingauthoritiesonLewisCarroll.HisAnnotatedAlice,first publishedin1960,hasoverhalfamillioncopiesinprintaroundtheworldand ishighlysoughtafterbyfamiliesandscholarsalikeforitwasGardnerwho firstdecodedthewordplayandthemanymathematicalriddlesthatlie embeddedinCarrollstwoclassicstories:AlicesAdventuresinWonderland andThroughtheLookingGlass. Fortyyearsafterthisgroundbreakingpublication,Nortonisproudtopublish theDefinitiveEditionofTheAnnotatedAlice,aworkthatcombinesthenotes ofGardners1960editionwithhis1990update,MoreAnnotatedAlice,aswell asadditionalnewdiscoveriesandupdatesdrawnfromGardnersencyclopedic knowledgeofthetexts.IllustratedwithJohnTennielsclassicandbelovedart alongwithmanyrecentlydiscoveredTennielpencilsketchesThe AnnotatedAliceisGardnersmostbeautifulandenduringtributetoCarrolls masterpiecesyet.TheredoubtableGardnerhasbeencalledbyDouglas Hofstadteroneofthegreatintellectsproducedinthiscountryinthiscentury. WithTheAnnotatedAlice:TheDefinitiveEdition,wehavethisremarkable

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Martin Gardner's 'The Annotated Alice' - NYTimes.com

scholarscrowningachievement.Color,twotone,andblackandwhitephotos andillustrationsthroughout. The current book was the idea of Martin Gardners editor, Robert Weil. As Mr. Gardner himself said in the preface to the book: In1998IwassurprisedanddelightedwhenmyeditoratNorton,RobertWeil, suggestedthatthenotesfrombothAlicebooksbecombinedinasingle definitiveedition.Theyareallhere,someofthemexpanded,andmanynew noteshavebeenadded. Jim Gardner, who is also managing partner of Martin Gardner Literary Interests, says the book is also his fathers most profitable venture and not just because of its volume. The book also gave Mr. Gardner a favorable royalty arrangement, which wasnt always the case with his previous books. That seemed surprising. Mr. Gardner was certainly brilliant. Why didnt he always negotiate the best possible deal as an author? I reached Robert Weil in his New York office and asked him. Heres his response: Martinjustdidntcareaboutmoney.Ithinkyoufindwithsomeoverlycreative peopletheycanbeoverlygenerous.Theyundervaluetheirownwork. Sometimescreativepeoplehaveagentstocounterbalancethistendencybut Martindidntbelieveinagents. MartinwasanOklahomaboywhohappenedtobeagenius.Hewasthe oppositeofpretentious.HewassomethingoutoftheWizardofOz.Toknow Martinhewassomethingoutofatimewarp.Helivedinhisstories.Helived inLewisCarroll.HewasfrozeninthelandofOz.PartofhimisDorothyjust skipping. Thank you, Mr. Weil. And W.W. Norton has generously agreed to share a chapter from The Annotated Alice: The Definitive Edition. Click the book cover to jump into Chapter 1: Down the Rabbit-Hole. This week we present two challenges from our featured book. The first is by Alice herself, who tries to regain her composure after having eaten a currant-adorned cake and telescoping to rather over nine feet high. IlltryifIknowallthethingsIusedtoknow.Letmesee:fourtimesfiveis twelve,andfourtimessixisthirteen,andfourtimessevenisohdear!Ishall nevergettotwentyatthatrate! The question is why wont Alice get to 20? Our second challenge was described by Mr. Gardner in his annotations to A Mad Tea

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Martin Gardner's 'The Annotated Alice' - NYTimes.com

Party. Why is a stopped clock more accurate than one that loses a minute a day? Solutions Here are Mr. Gardners own solutions to the two problems: Alice wont get to twenty because the multiplication table traditionally stops with the twelves, so if you continue this nonsense progression4 times 5 is twelve, 4 times 6 is 13, 4 times 7 is 14, and so onyou end with 4 times 12 (the highest she can go) is 19just one short of 20. As for the two clocks, Mr. Gardner says, Carroll [...] proves that a stopped clock is more accurate than one that loses a minute a day. The first clock is exactly right twice every twenty-four hours, whereas the other clock is exactly right only once every two years. No wonder the rabbit was late, said Alphonse J Baluta in our reader discussion. Gary, though, defended the moving clock. The stopped clocked was wrong because it doesnt move. A slow clock looks like it works. And deo declared the contest a tie: If you define More accurate clock as the one that differs less from the actual time, both clocks would be equally accurate, averaging incorrect by 3:00:00. The most common creative explanation for why Alice will never get to twenty was to interpret Alices unusual math with other base systems. Heres Neal: PresumeAliceismultiplyingcorrectly.InAlicesnewworldthenumbersyou useinmultiplicationalsodeterminethebaseofthemathematicalsystem. 45=12ifyouareusingbase18 46=13ifyouareusingbase21 47=14.base24 4xn=10+n3usingbase3+3n Inthissystemyouwouldnevermakeitto20multiplyingserial4s.

Why Is A Raven Like A Writing Desk? Notes

Id like to thank RobertWeil for the personal reflections on Martin Gardner. Robert Weil is former executive editor at W.W. Norton & Co. and current editor in chief and publishing director of Nortons Liveright & Company. Thank you as well to JimGardner, managing partner of Martin Gardner Literary Interests. Chapter text included with this post excerpted from The Annotated Alice: The Definitive Edition by Lewis Carroll. Introduction and notes by MartinGardner. Copyright 2000, 1990, 1988, 1960 by Martin Gardner. With permission of the publisher, W.W. Norton & Company.

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Martin Gardner's 'The Annotated Alice' - NYTimes.com

Id also like to thank StanIsaacs for letting me borrow a copy of The Annotated Alice: The Definitive Edition. I didnt have a copy myself so I gave Mr. Isaacs a call. Of course I have a copy, he said. Come on over. I arrived to find Mr. Isaacs holding several editions of The Annotated Alice. Several editions! Thats an enthusiast. Then I noticed the bookshelves behind Mr. Isaacs. Three sets of shelves, floor to ceiling, filled with books either by or about Lewis Carroll. Mr. Isaacs must have noticed how stunned I was. Its not quite a complete collection, he said. Some editions are difficult to find. To number comments, render TeX and display comment images, try GaryHewitts Numberplay Comment Enhancer. Just bring up a blog post in comment view and then click . (You may need to also click a violet box that says Enhance.) Do you have a favorite puzzle? Send to gary.antonick@NYTimes.com.

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