Martin Gardner was a giant in the recreational math world — many of the puzzles we take on each week here at Numberplay are direct descendants of the many counter-intuitive conundra that Gardner curated in the 20th century. He was such a significant force in math puzzles that we forget — or have a hard time really believing — that he had other lives, including that of a popular and influential magician. This week I’m pleased to present a book that captures this magical life: Martin Gardner’s Impromptu. The book is absolutely gorgeous: beautifully designed and full of detail, with hundreds of pages of original notes and sketches by Martin Gardner (the book itself is over 800 pages long). Click here to enjoy selections from the colorsection of the book, and here for an introduction to MiniTrix, a series of short videos featuring Martin Gardner performing various impromptu tricks. Read more and let Martin read your mind..from the grave…

http://wordplay.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/11/30/gardner-impromptu/?_r=1