Puzzle Calendar 2007
If you're a smart shopper, you will have put off your 2007 calendar purchase until after Christmas. At this point, most stores discount their calendars by 50% or more, but the selection is usually still pretty good. I was in the market for a daily puzzle calendar and my research led me to two choices: Classic Mind-Bending Puzzles edited by Martin Gardner, and Brainteasers, Mind Benders, Games, Word Searches, Puzzlers, Mazes & More by Scott Kim. Because I wanted one for work and one for home, I bought one of each and here are my initial impressions in comparing the two.
Cred: The "Mind-Bending Puzzles" calendar was for the past few years authored by Clifford Pickover. Gardner is a welcome change, as he is probably the best known mathematical puzzle author today. Now in his nineties, Gardner is still chugging along according to a recent interview. However, Gardner does not actually have a degree in mathematics. Kim, on the other hand, has a PhD and was advised by Don Knuth, arguably the most respected computer scientist alive. Kim is best known for his Inversions work (readable logos with 180 degree rotational symmetry), but has apparently been producing puzzles for magazines and cell phones for the past several years. Advantage: Gardner.
Originality: Gardner's puzzles are gleaned from two sources, Sam Loyd's Cyclopedia and Boris Kordemsky's The Moscow Puzzles. In fact, the first source is now in the public domain (the link is to images of the book) but had been available in pieces as a Gardner-edited Dover publication, and the second source is only available as a Gardner-edited Dover book. The claim that Gardner "edited" this calendar himself is therefore somewhat suspect, especially because the calendar is copyright Dover and there is not a single sentence which appears to have been written by him. On the other hand, Scott Kim's puzzles are apparently designed by him personally. Kim's calendar contains an introductory page attributed to him which gives some good background. Though the puzzles have probably all been published before in magazine or cell phone form, they are not available as collected volumes. Advantage: Kim.
Visual appeal: Gardner's calendar is in black and white. The illustrations are clean but spartan and relatively small. Scott's is in color and the illustrations are attractive and dominate the calendar. Advantage: Kim.
Utility: Both are 313-page weekday + Sat-Sun daily calendars. Gardner's calendar is a bit bigger and the pages have lines on the front for taking notes. The back is mostly blank except for the answer. Kim's calendar has nowhere to write on the front, but aside from the answer, the back contains a light blue square grid, which could be used for writing notes or even creating small graphs. Advantage: Draw.
Price: Gardner's retails at $13. You can find it at Borders. Amazon claims that Kim's retail is $13 as well, but at Target the retail was $10 (and the packaging reflected it with the bar code). Furthermore, Target will raise their discounts past 50% to 75 and even 90% over the next couple of days (it may be at 75% already). Advantage: Kim (if purchased at Target).
Puzzle quality: This is probably what you're really after, but I'm afraid I can't help that much since I have deliberately only looked at the beginning of the calendars. Both calendars feature a mix of easy and hard puzzles. For example, both have relatively trivial visual "find the object" puzzles. Gardner's probably contains tougher puzzles. As an example, Gardner's Jan 1 puzzle is (if I recall correctly...) a tough 8 queens variation, while Kim's is a Babelfish obfuscation puzzle. Kim's also contains non-puzzle fluff such as inversions. Kim's probably contains more "instance" puzzles (instances of some general problem which is a candidate for NP-hardness) while Gardner's contains more "singleton" puzzles. Advantage: A slight edge to Gardner.
Overall: Personally, I give this one to Kim. I'm a visual person and his calendar is definitely more attractive. I am also a fan of "instance" puzzles. Furthermore, at Target his calendar is quite cheap. Hurry and buy it before they all vanish! Look in the Holiday section, which should be festooned with large discount signs, and hopefully you will find daily calendars.
Cred: The "Mind-Bending Puzzles" calendar was for the past few years authored by Clifford Pickover. Gardner is a welcome change, as he is probably the best known mathematical puzzle author today. Now in his nineties, Gardner is still chugging along according to a recent interview. However, Gardner does not actually have a degree in mathematics. Kim, on the other hand, has a PhD and was advised by Don Knuth, arguably the most respected computer scientist alive. Kim is best known for his Inversions work (readable logos with 180 degree rotational symmetry), but has apparently been producing puzzles for magazines and cell phones for the past several years. Advantage: Gardner.
Originality: Gardner's puzzles are gleaned from two sources, Sam Loyd's Cyclopedia and Boris Kordemsky's The Moscow Puzzles. In fact, the first source is now in the public domain (the link is to images of the book) but had been available in pieces as a Gardner-edited Dover publication, and the second source is only available as a Gardner-edited Dover book. The claim that Gardner "edited" this calendar himself is therefore somewhat suspect, especially because the calendar is copyright Dover and there is not a single sentence which appears to have been written by him. On the other hand, Scott Kim's puzzles are apparently designed by him personally. Kim's calendar contains an introductory page attributed to him which gives some good background. Though the puzzles have probably all been published before in magazine or cell phone form, they are not available as collected volumes. Advantage: Kim.
Visual appeal: Gardner's calendar is in black and white. The illustrations are clean but spartan and relatively small. Scott's is in color and the illustrations are attractive and dominate the calendar. Advantage: Kim.
Utility: Both are 313-page weekday + Sat-Sun daily calendars. Gardner's calendar is a bit bigger and the pages have lines on the front for taking notes. The back is mostly blank except for the answer. Kim's calendar has nowhere to write on the front, but aside from the answer, the back contains a light blue square grid, which could be used for writing notes or even creating small graphs. Advantage: Draw.
Price: Gardner's retails at $13. You can find it at Borders. Amazon claims that Kim's retail is $13 as well, but at Target the retail was $10 (and the packaging reflected it with the bar code). Furthermore, Target will raise their discounts past 50% to 75 and even 90% over the next couple of days (it may be at 75% already). Advantage: Kim (if purchased at Target).
Puzzle quality: This is probably what you're really after, but I'm afraid I can't help that much since I have deliberately only looked at the beginning of the calendars. Both calendars feature a mix of easy and hard puzzles. For example, both have relatively trivial visual "find the object" puzzles. Gardner's probably contains tougher puzzles. As an example, Gardner's Jan 1 puzzle is (if I recall correctly...) a tough 8 queens variation, while Kim's is a Babelfish obfuscation puzzle. Kim's also contains non-puzzle fluff such as inversions. Kim's probably contains more "instance" puzzles (instances of some general problem which is a candidate for NP-hardness) while Gardner's contains more "singleton" puzzles. Advantage: A slight edge to Gardner.
Overall: Personally, I give this one to Kim. I'm a visual person and his calendar is definitely more attractive. I am also a fan of "instance" puzzles. Furthermore, at Target his calendar is quite cheap. Hurry and buy it before they all vanish! Look in the Holiday section, which should be festooned with large discount signs, and hopefully you will find daily calendars.