Jinn from Hyperspace: And Other Scribblings--Both Serious and Whimsical |  | Author: Martin Gardner
Publisher: Prometheus Books
Category: eBooks
This item is no longer available
Rating:  3 reviews
Sales Rank: 53366
Format: Kindle Book
Media: Kindle Edition
Pages: 307
Number Of Items: 1
Dewey Decimal Number: 793.74
ASIN: B002IYERMI
Publication Date: January 31, 2008
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Product Description
For over fifty years Martin Gardner has been delighting readers with elegant, witty, and highly intelligent writing on an amazing array of topics. Best known for his works on popular science and mathematics, and as an incisive skeptical commentator on the paranormal, Gardner is also an accomplished writer of children's literature, a novelist, and a prolific essayist on religion, philosophy, and other issues. This new collection of Gardner gems takes its name from an essay on a mathematical theme, about a jinn (or genie) trapped in a "Klein Bottle"--an amusing tale that also teaches the math phobic something interesting about a theoretical one-sided object with no distinction between inside and outside. Other topics in math and physics include speculations about universes where time runs in reverse; the Banach-Tarski paradox (whereby a sphere, after being deconstructed, can be reassembled at twice its size); and a vigorous defense of the objective reality of mathematical theorems independent of human culture. On the literary side, Gardner discusses two neglected works by G.K. Chesterton, one of which concerns an imaginary but now very topical war between Islam and Christianity. He also considers the fantasies of L. Frank Baum that don't take place in Oz, Clement Moore's ever-popular The Night Before Christmas, and the many fascinating books by Lewis Carroll that are sometimes overshadowed by his famous Alice in Wonderland. A treat for longtime Gardner readers or the perfect introduction for newcomers, The Jinn from Hyperspace offers a rich selection of stimulating intellectual wonders.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Difficult to easily categorize, but promising to read across genres July 14, 2008
Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
THE JINN FROM HYPERSPACE AND OTHER SCRIBBLINGS - BOTH SERIOUS AND WHIMSICAL blends math and science, essays and fantasy/sci fi tales in a book difficult to easily categorize, but promising to read across genres. Science fiction readers will love its possibilities, science readers will love its focus on math and probability, and even literary readers will find analysis of and references to literary topics in this satisfying, involving read perfect for both college-level science collections and general-interest lending libraries.
Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch
Bought As Gift October 28, 2009
Shatzi Crabtree (KS)
0 out of 5 found this review helpful
I bought this for someone else, book arrived from Amazon quickly. I know my friend enjoyed this book so I can't write anything else unless it's about the delivery.
 Reviewed by a software engineer June 20, 2008
Muhammad Ali Shah (Karachi, Pakistan)
8 out of 11 found this review helpful
If you are a fan of Martin Gardner's recreational mathematics book, and would like to see his other writings, this book might be for you; others should be ok if they miss it. It's a collection of essays, on no single topic. The book is divided into four parts, with 36 chapters in all spread over 300 pages. The parts are
* Science, Math, and Baloney: This part (19 chapters) contains Martin's opinion on various science related topics, as well as some paradoxes which philosophers and logicians seem to be very fond of. The topics range from False Memory Syndrome to a hypothetical Time Reversed Universe. The title of the book is actually name of a fictional story related to Klein bottles in this part.
* Literature: This series of chapters (5) contains Martin's view of literature, specifically focusing on the work of Chesterton and how the Santa Clause came into being.
* L. Frank Baum: Martin Gardner seems to be a fan of L. Frank Baum (the author of The Wizard of Oz); though, people outside the US (like me) might not have heard of him earlier. This section consists of 7 chapters, entirely dedicated to the writing style of L. Frank Baum.
* Lewis Carroll: Like Frank Baum, Martin seems to be a fan of Lewis Carroll as well. Martin discusses the background of the writings of the famous logician. This might be very interesting for you if you know a little bit about Lewis and/ or have enjoyed reading Alice in the Wonderland/ Through the Looking Glass. This part consists of 5 chapters, and also sheds some light on the life of Lewis.
Depending on where you live, some of the content---such as False Memory Syndrome which discusses false childhood abuse memories---in the book might be disturbing for you. While there were certain bits and pieces to learn from here and there, I am not much impressed by the overall theme and content of the book.
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