In Memoriam

 As such a lifelong fan of Alice In Wonderland I cannot allow to pass unmentioned the news that Martin Gardner has died. It's possible that you have never heard of Martin Gardner and his vast contribution to Alice In Wonderland but to me he is the third most important figure in the history of the book- after Lewis Carroll and John Tenniel. He produced the remarkably detailed Annotated Alice. It's a tour de force examination, filled with in-depth analyses of the humour, the history and the background to both Alice books with notes that range from simple commentary to lengthy psychological analyses. Anyone who has never read it should do so. It sheds light on many hidden corners of the books and of Lewis Carroll's life and is probably the single most important edition of the book for the collector to own.

Of course there was far more to Martin Gardner than a commentary on a single children's book. He was a journalist and a mathematician and produced an array of popular science books and mathematics texts all of which are filled with his characteristic style and humour. He was one of the greatest popularisers of all things scientific and mathematical and had the rare ability to turn dry and arcane subjects into something wondrous and magical. It's no wonder that he was such a lover of Carroll who had a similar turn of mind.

I have several of his books of mathematical puzzles ,many of which were culled from his popular Scientific American column, and they are all splendid.

I was surprised, though perhaps I shouldn't have been, to discover that he was 95 years old. 

RIP Martin Gardner.