Ask HN: Why Martin Gardner is no longer popular?

16 points by danbst 4 years ago | 15 comments

Had Youtube math-blogs replaced recreational math for current generation of kids?

He's a decade deceased, so that's probably not helping his popularity...

But I'd argue he is still popular, though the very nature of what "popularity" means has changed even since he passed, so I don't know honestly how to really even address the comparison to modern "YouTube" stars.

danbst 4 years ago | |

When I was a kid, I didn't know he was alive when I read his books.

TameAntelope 4 years ago | | |

Sure, but he knew he was alive, and being alive is a huge advantage if you want to address interesting topics in a way that matches well with readers of the time period you're currently in.

Being alive, generally, is useful for reaching audiences. Not everyone needs to be alive to do this, but it really does help, you know...

aaron695 4 years ago |

Here's a list of the SciAm articles, which I assume were the gateway to his books -

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Martin_Gardner_Mathema...

One of the most iconic, John Conway's game of life wouldn't be an article today, it'd be swamped by many authors quickly. But many articles still seem unique. Can the hard slogs survive when the icing is gone?

Really I think it's just down to most kids don't get stuck in a library or at home with only SciAm to read anymore.

That sort of information flow is dead. It's pull not push, which Martin Gardner's format doesn't fit. Pull is bit sized.

Equally kids now can read peer review straight from the source and also peoples criticism, SciAm is no longer the gatekeeper, you lose the recreation for better science.

tkb 4 years ago | |

I believe many of his books (at least, those which I picked up, I know he wrote many more) were collections of his Scientific American "Mathematical Games" columns.

And as a bit of trivia - when Douglas Hofstadter (of Gödel Escher Bach) took over the slot in the early 1980s, he renamed it to the anagrammatic "Metamagical Themas".

yesenadam 4 years ago |

Well, first I'd want to confirm or not the assumption in the question: Isn't he? Popular compared with when? etc.

JohnHaugeland 4 years ago | |

> Well, first I'd want to confirm or not the assumption in the question: Isn't he?

Well, go ahead. It's easy to do, by a dozen methods.

HN has too many people who attempt to look wise by doubting things without cause, when the actual wise thing is not to discuss your doubts, but to address them

Unfortunately, the normal behavior is invisible, so people randomly admonishing one another gains the false appearance of being regular

> Popular compared with when?

The past.

The sentence makes this clear and unambiguous, as does our lack of time travel.

danbst 4 years ago | |

I believe content of his books is now less accessible to modern kids. Internet (Youtube) doesn't promote his works, ideas. Flexagons are rediscovered, instead of being included into school curriculum, etc.

JonathanMerklin 4 years ago | | |

I think "less accessible" is a disingenuous way to put it. The internet has made his works more accessible, not less. The problem (for the Gardner estate, I suppose) is not availability, but discovery - there is significantly more math content to digest (for free!) and therefore lower probability any one budding mathematician is digesting Gardner content.

cableshaft 4 years ago |

Well, I picked up the Colossal Book of Mathematics[1] by him after hearing about it and I'm having a lot of fun with it myself (it's just a bunch of really interesting math topics written really well, that are sparking my game designer brain), but yeah, he's not as discoverable today, in part because he's no longer living and people consume things a bit differently today.

But someone could help promote his work again, by taking his articles and making Youtube videos of them, and give credit to him and urge people to check out his articles and books.

[1]: https://www.amazon.com/Colossal-Book-Mathematics-Paradoxes-P...

laurieg 4 years ago |

Because he doesn't have a youtube channel (though you can hardly blame him...)

Recreational mathematics is featured a lot on youtube. Channels like stand up maths. Some of the topics Martin Gardner wrote about are being covered again in this new medium.

detaro 4 years ago |

I have no idea what materials there are today for math-interested kids. Is his stuff not used anymore?

denton-scratch 4 years ago |

OT: I have a copy of The Annotated Alice; I revisit it every couple of years. It's not maths, although Charles Dodgson was a mathematician. Gardner's marginalia bring the books to life.

ranuzz 4 years ago |

Don't have an answer to your question, but thanks to your post now I know a lot about Martin Gardner.

morninglight 4 years ago |

Locking his work behind a paywall doesn't help. Thank you Scientific American.