Martin Gardner is, for me, always paired with Jerry Andrus; both men appeared to see the world from a slightly different perspective than the rest of us, but were ready, willing and able to share their vision, to our great joy.
Turns out Andrus had, a dozen years ago, paid his own homage to Gardner, in the form of a paper cutout illusion of the form both men were so fond of. This one also happens to be perhaps my own favorite; I have one sitting on the shelf in my office (well, did–things are in boxes right now). (At the link, you can print out your own to cut and fold!)
A dragon you can make yourself
To sit, perhaps, upon your shelf
A silent, somewhat creepy pardner
Reminding you of Martin Gardner
I have posted a transcript of a long 1979 interview with Martin Gardner here.
Thanks so much, Cuttlefish. Those dragons are wonderful. I have two of them now.JC
Cut out and sitting on my shelf now. (The dragon, not the poem. The poem lives in my head.)
Oh my, I arrive late to learn of your fondness for Martin and Jerry.
I’ve hugged them both, both brilliant, gracious, wise and merry.
Jerry would send me poems, Martin wrote words of praise
And offered me the rights to his two games, sweet plays.
In even years hundreds of Gardner fans gather in Atlanta in late March to talk about their life’s work, all of them sparked by Martin’s inspiration. And since his passing, for his birthday on October 21, in dozens of lands, there are “Celebration of Mind” parties with themes running from math to magic, puzzles to paradoxes, science to singularities. Here are brief reports of my own participation in these events and a little biography of Martin Gardner.
If the Cuttlefish would like to attend such a gathering, I can probably wrangle an invitation. Just ask me.