One of the books that I read from the library when I was a child and teenager in the late 1950s and early 1960s was WW Rouse Ball's "Mathematical Recreations and Essays". I learned a lot about mathematics from this book. But I have been away from my home town for many years now, and had never seen the book since then. When I saw it available on Amazon, I bought it. Much of it seemed familiar, but there were revisions made, as I see references to years in the 1980s. Also I note that HSM Coxeter is now a co-author. He's another author from my child and teen days, especially his "Mathematical Models" book which I have. It is still a good book for learning about fun mathematical things, and I highly recommend it, and it reminds me of the old days.

this is just what I was looking for!

I bought the ebook version and the format is so bad that it is not readable.

My favorite -- N is prime if, and only if, (N - 1)! + 1 is divisible by N -- or

maybe you already know that?

More than I expected. I've only had time to skim thru it but as I am interested in design and how things come into being (design wise) I think that this will be a very welcome aid and addition to my library.

Any fan of mathematical puzzles will go ape over this thoroughly researched, timeless classic. Even for jaded scientists in their forties (such as me) and beyond, there's always some new gem to be discovered at the turn of a page. The scope of the book is immense, ranging from all manner of "classical" recreations to the puzzles of antiquity (e.g., squaring the circle) to the history of pi to the structure and functionality of the kaleidoscope. It's all here!

This is a classic collection of mathematical recreations. Originally written by W.W. Rouse Ball around 1900, this edition has been updated by the great geometer H.S.M. Coxeter. It is a comprehensive first source for information about magic squares, Platonic and Archimedian solids, "Knight's Tours" and other chessboard recreations, and just about any other variety of math-related puzzle you could name.

For a mathematician, Coxeter is an excellent writer, and the book is quite accessible, even to relative math novices. Fans of Martin Gardner's books, of his "Scientific American" Mathematical Games columns, will want to own this. And because it's published by Dover, the price is right, too.

A classic. Challenging but fascinating. Best consumed in chunks.

Le format poche n'est pas idéal.

Le livre est difficile à lire.

Il n'est pas assez illustré.

Je reste sur ma faim.

The original book by W. W. Rouse Ball was a masterpiece. In this edition, the transcriber has completely massacred it, cutting out almost 150 pages and retaining just the mundane stuff. Why not publish the original just exactly as it was? Most open questions were deleted and book was significantly abridged to fit the limited imagination of the transcriber. I would still recommend to readers the ORIGINAL version!

中身は良いです。さまざまな数学系のクイズやパズルは，100年も前のものとは思えない面白さです。ただ問題は，Kindle化のしかたです。おそらく，画像をOCRにかけただけで，何の手も加えていないのではないかと思われます。

まず，目次が目次として扱われておらず，本文と同じです。つまり，クリックしてもそのページに飛びません。章が変わるところの改ページも無視されています。

そして，至る所といっていいほど，誤字脱字だらけです。

最初のページの冒頭から，いきなりPEEFACE＝しょんべん面？（汚くてすみません）ときます。

数式が出てくるところなど支離滅裂で，なんのことかさっぱりわかりません。数学の本で数式が読めないというのは致命的です。

ちょっとだけ本文の例を示すと，

Every even number is of the form 2/1, 　[正しくは2n]

and the successive operations applied to the give (i) 6n, which is even;

(ii) J6n = 3n; [正しくはJではなくて分数で上下に書いた1/2]

(iii) 3x3n = 97i; [もちろん9n]

(iv) ・^9?2 = w; [1/9 9n = n です]

(v) 2n.

その少し先に「Second Methodf.」とあるのは何かと思ったら，「Second Method†」というダガー印だったり。

しかも，それに対応する脚注が本文の続き扱いだったり。

表紙と目次の1ページ目だけは画像でしたが，残りはテキスト化されています。でもこんないい加減なテキスト化だったら，全ページ画像データにしてくれたほうが，まだ本文が読めるだけマシです。

きちんとしたKindle版が出るまでは，紙の本で読みましょう。

This is a classic work but this Kindle edition does not do it justice. I bought it for the convenience of having a Kindle edition but rapidly returned it as I concluded that it wasn't even worth 77p. There is no useful navigation, and the even the most elementary mathematical notation is so garbled as to be incomprehensible. The free PDF version from Project Gutenberg is worlds better.

Warning - The Kindle Edition while listed with a newer edition that was updated by H.S.M. Coxeter is actually the old public domain edition available for free from the Internet Archive (as stated in the Kindle eBook itself).

The best version of this book has two authors: the original author W. W. Rouse Ball and H. S. M. Coxeter who updated it. Currently the best bet is to get the latest paperback edition. Mathematical Recreations and Essays