This is the first of the two wonderful, classic collections of
mathematically flavored literature and such by Clifton Fadiman. (The
second is "Mathematical Magpie".) Fortunately, it is now available for free online, as Amit Dhakulkar explains:
| Contributed by
Amit Dhakulkar
Thanks for the amazing listing of the books and other resources on your
site.
This mail is regarding the Fantasia Mathematica.
The book is available for reading (borrowing would be the proper word)
online at the Internet Archive at this url:
http://archive.org/details/fantasiamathemat00fadi
It would be nice if you could include this link in the comments on the
page for Fantasia Mathematica.
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Following is a partial listing of the contents with links to the other works that are included in this database. To see my listing other collections of mathematical short stories, click here.
Contents:
Odd Numbers
- "Young Archimedes" by Aldous Huxley
- "Pythagoras and the Psychoanalyst" by Arthur Koestler
- "Mother and the Decimal Point" by Richard Llewellyn
- "Jurgen Proves it by Mathematics" by James Branch Cabell
- "Peter Learns Arithmetic" by H.G. Wells
- "Socrates and the Slave" by Plato
- "The Death of Archimedes" by Karel Capek
Imaginaries
Fractions
(I'm not going to type in the titles of all of these snippets, poems and quotes that make up pages 261-298 of this book, but suggest you take a look if you are interested in this sort of thing! -- ak) | Contributed by
LC Gundo
The editor of this compilation suggests that this book is for lay people, and that mathematicians may find the stories lacking mathematical substance.
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| Contributed by
Stan Sirody
First read this in 1963. Found a used copy in 2001 on Amazon and grabbed it for re-reading.
Still fascinating all these years later!
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| Contributed by
Nidia Fernandez-Lee
I used the book with my younger 7th grade students and now with my AP Calculus students. It has a little bit of everything for everyone in it. Even students who don't "get into" math enjoy the literature. Some of the stories are a little slow, but there is something in there for everyone.
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| Contributed by
Sonja Dezman
Fantasia Mathematica certainly deserves to be in the list of Mathematical fiction. The book is interesting. It is not exactly fun and it gets boring from time to time. It is appropriate for all readers. I am a student of mathematics and I liked it. My professor of English literature has read it and he also liked it. At the moment my professor of mathematics is reading it. It truly is for everyone. What surprises me is that although it is based on mathematics it is very mysterious. It is like reading high quality Science Fiction.
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| Contributed by
Robert W. Franson
My mother was very fond of this anthology, and in her copy I first read many of these stories, some of which are classics of the kind.
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| Contributed by
Gene Chase
One of the first and few hardcover books I ever bought -- when I was in high school (1958-1961). I have re-read it many times. I have loaned it many times, leaving the dust jacket off so that I could preserve it. One year (1966-1967) when I taught Intro to Math at a sister college, I read some of the short stories out loud on the day before school vacations, on the grounds that the students were required to attend but their mind was on the vacation. Contributed to my being a mathematician. -- Dr. Gene B. Chase, Professor Emeritus of Mathematics and Computer Science, Messiah College
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