Martin Gardner's Mathematical Games columns in Scientific American inspired and entertained several generations of mathematicians and scientists. Gardner in his crystal-clear prose illuminated corners of mathematics, especially recreational mathematics, that most people had no idea existed. His playful spirit and inquisitive nature invite the reader into an exploration of beautiful mathematical ideas along with him. These columns were both a revelation and a gift when he wrote them; no one--before Gardner--had written about mathematics like this. They continue to be a marvel. This volume was originally published in 1989 and contains columns from published 1976-1978. This 1997 MAA edition contains three new columns written specifically for this volume including the resurrection of the lamented Dr. Matrix.

As an artist, an impresario, a biographer and a collector, Roland Penrose (1900-1984) is a key figure in the study of art in England from 1920 to 1984. In the first biography of Penrose, acclaimed biographer James King explores the intricacies of Penrose's life and work tracing the profound effects of his upbringing in a Quaker household on his values, the early influence of Roger Fry, his friendships with Max Ernst, Andre Breton and other surrealists, especially Paul Eluard, his organization of the landmark International Surrealist Exhibition in the summer of 1936, his conflicted relationship with Pablo Picasso, and his tireless promotion of surrealism as well as the production of his own surrealist art. With a deftness of touch, King traces Penrose's complex professional and personal lives, including his pacifism, his work as a biographer - including his outstanding life of Picasso as well as those of Miro, Man Ray, and Tapies - and as an art historian, as well as his unconventionality, especially in his two marriages - including that to Lee Miller -and his numerous love affairs.

An 18th century sailor is cast away in a multi-ethnic New World in this long-neglected classic regarded as the first American novel every written. Mr. Penrose narrates the adventures of a Llewellin Penrose who flees an unhappy home life to seek his fortune on the high seas. Having learned the sailor’s trade, Penrose survives a series of nautical mishaps, only to be cast adrift on the Mosquito Coast. When rescue finally comes, Penrose refuses to abandon the new home he has made among the Indians. Though not officially published until 1815—posthumously and bowdlerized—painter and seafarer William Williams’s dynamic adventure was actually written before 1780, making it unjustly forgotten as, arguably, the first American novel. Publishers may have been wary of “a work of imagination”, but Lord Byron could barely contain his enthusiasm for this unique tale: “I have never read so much of a book in one sitting in my life. He kept me up half the night, and made me dream of him the other half.” Equal parts travel narrative, sea-merchant yarn and historical document, this original version of Mr. Penrose reflects on some of the most pressing moral and social issues of its time: imperialism, racial equality, religious freedom, and the nature of an ethical government. In fact, it contains the first unequivocal critique of slavery in a transatlantic novel and the most realistic portrayals of Native Americans in early American fiction. In the afterword, Sarah Wadsworth imparts new research on the author and his career, shedding light on the novel’s subjects and timely themes, and situating Mr. Penrose at the forefront of the American literary canon.

This early work by Richard Austin Freeman was originally published in 1936 and we are now republishing it with a brand new introduction. 'The Penrose Mystery' is one of Freeman's novels of crime and mystery. The first story featuring his well-known protagonist Dr. Thorndyke – a medico-legal forensic investigator – was published in 1907, and although Freeman's early works were seen as simple homages to his contemporary, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, he quickly developed his own style: The 'inverted detective story', in which the identity of the criminal is shown from the beginning, and the story then describes the detective's attempt to solve the mystery.

This book offers a primer on the fundamentals and applications of the Geroch-Held-Penrose (GHP) calculus, a powerful formalism designed for spacetimes that occur frequently in the teaching of General Relativity. Specifically, the book shows in detail the power of the calculus when dealing with spherically symmetric spacetimes. After introducing the basics, a new look at all the classical spherically symmetric black hole solutions is given within the GHP formalism. This is then employed to give new insights into the Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff equations for stellar structure, including a derivation of new exact anisotropic fluid solutions. Finally, a re-writing of some essential features of black hole thermodynamics within the GHP formalism is performed. The book is based on the authors' lecture notes, used in their undergraduate and graduate lectures and while supervising their upper undergraduate and graduate students. To fully benefit from this concise primer, readers only need an undergraduate background in general relativity.