When You Were a Tadpole and I Was a Fish and Other Speculations About This and That

by Martin Gardner

Best known as the longtime writer of the Mathematical Games column for Scientific American—which introduced generations of readers to the joys of recreational mathematics—Martin Gardner has for decades pursued a parallel career as a devastatingly effective debunker of what he once famously dubbed “fads and fallacies in the name of science.” It is mainly in this latter role that he is onstage in this collection of choice essays.

 

When You Were a Tadpole and I Was a Fish takes aim at a gallery of amusing targets, ranging from Ann Coulter’s qualifications as an evolutionary biologist to the logical fallacies of precognition and extrasensory perception, from Santa Claus to The Wizard of Oz, from mutilated chessboards to the little-known “one-poem poet” Langdon Smith (the original author of this volume’s title line). The writings assembled here fall naturally into seven broad categories: Science, Bogus Science, Mathematics, Logic, Literature, Religion and Philosophy, and Politics. Under each heading, Gardner displays an awesome level of erudition combined with a wicked sense of humor.

Genres: Nonfiction, Science, Essays, Philosophy

246 pages, Hardcover

First published October 13, 2009

About the author

Martin Gardner was an American mathematics and science writer specializing in recreational mathematics, but with interests encompassing micromagic, stage magic, literature (especially the writings of Lewis Carroll), philosophy, scientific skepticism, and religion. He wrote the Mathematical Games column in Scientific American from 1956 to 1981, and published over 70 books.

Reviews

[Jared · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some of his musings were interesting, most weren’t, and they really went on for a while. I will say that the poem from which the title comes is very nice and sweet

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I was a kid I used to go visit my Granny's place and she always had a massive stack of Scientific American magazines. Granny, who was a brilliant mathematician, and I would spend time together playing cards (to learn about probability) and reading Martin Gardner's columns on maths, games and logic.

Since having grown up I still retain a love for Mr gardner's mind. Now he's 94, and still publishing from his assisted care facility, and now he writes like a cranky old man, which is just perfect.

His latest book, When I Was a Tadpole and You Were a Fish, (the title comes from a poem about evolution, reincarnation and love) is rich with classic topics. Science and scepticism of course dominate the book, but his short essay on why he is a Theist really struck me. Now, being a confirmed Atheist I am not really swayed by his arguments (and indeed I am amazed that someone as smart as he is could fall for such nonsense), but it is fascinating. To summarise his position on a supernatural deity; Gardner posits that there must be an afterlife, else human consciousness is wasted (youth wasted on the young etc) upon death. And for there to be an afterlife there must be a God. Well to me that's simply what Monty Python would refer to as a "cloth eared syllogism".

Still this is a wonderful book and I enjoyed it immensely.

[Jim Razinha · Rating 5 out of 5]

[update 2023]
I came across a quote I'd saved from this and pulled it off my shelf to refresh the context. I saw things from a different perspective and decided to reread the entire collection. And this time trough - the different perspective, of nearly ten years since the first read - I made even more notes. I might update this again to share them, but the bottom line is it's still a five star read and I still wonder at some of his views, but I am always enlightened and amazed when I read anything by him.

[2014]
A wonderful collection of Gardner writings. As he says,

This is another collection of articles and book reviews, of introductions to works by me and others, plus some stray pieces retrieved from obscure books of my own. The only thing these scribbling have in common is that I wrote them all."

The first essay takes down Ann Coulter and he has fun with many others along the way. I love his writings and if I had heroes, he might be one, but I'll never understand why he likes poetry (or topography!). Nor his position on fideism, though he explains it well in one piece.

Normally a four-star book, I give it five because he makes me think past the reading. I have some things to consider, though I don't expect I'll change my mind.

[Molly · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was browsing through the Regulator bookshop and got this book on a lark. I only gave this two stars because I think the description on the cover was pretty misleading. I happen to really like science writing, so when I read the book cover and the keywords had to do with math puzzles, evolution, and the like I was really excited. Unfortunately, when reading it, it felt like more of the sections were on philosophy, history, and religion than on science topics. The writing was well done and the author had some interesting points and random trivia tidbits, but it wasn't what I was looking for.

[Orin · Rating 4 out of 5]

He's always good company and I admit that I skimmed the mathematical bits. He includes the "Why I am not an atheist" essay and I'm not sure why. It is a consummate argument for the value of delusional thought and its value for getting through life, but he really doesn't score any points for theism, god or any of that other stuff.

[Artem Huletski · Rating 4 out of 5]

"И в джунглях мы средь лиан много дней
порхали, легки и сильны,
ароматы впитав деревьев и трав
даже ночью, не видя луны.
Эти годы прекрасны были, мой друг,
и сердца наши бились в такт,
мир был многолик, и придумать язык
мы пытались то так, то сяк".

[Stephie Williams · Rating 2 out of 5]

I used to like Martin Gardner's writing a lot, but unfortunately I can't say the same for a lot of the pieces in this book. The mathematical part was boring for me, except for the chapter on mathematical realism, opposing Reuben Hersh's cultural invention of mathematical truths. Not that I am firmly in the realist camp myself, but I do not like cultural epistemologies. I could agree that mathematical turths are discovered, but existing in some other world seems a flight of fancy. The logic section didn't strike my fancy either. The religion section was mixed. His “Why I Am Not An Atheist” chapter I whole heartly disagree with. I can't by his solution for evil in the world. That it is inevitable outcome of a natural world, that god supposedly did the best that could b done. Sounds like a pretty weak god to me, and most people want god to be all powerful. And, I take offense at his suggest that no one, honestly, does not want to live forever. He's calling people like me who do not want to live forever liars or deluded. The science and bogus science sections were fine, but a bit of old hat for me. The literature section did have some interesting stuff in it. The poltical chapter, the only one in that section was a pretty good defense of democratic socialism that I could agree on.

I don't know what suggestions I could offer to a potential reader of this book. Maybe someone who has not read him before might give it a go.

[Stven · Rating 2 out of 5]

I do like Martin Gardner. If you are a completist, this is a collection of odds and ends from a variety of publications. I found a few things in it to enjoy but more often found myself not completing the article I was reading.

The title of the book is from the "famous poem" (I'd never heard of it) by Langdon Smith called "Evolution." One of Gardner's articles relates what little is known about Smith.

[Mckenzee Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting collection of writings/essays, although some are definitely better than others. The title essay "When I Was a Tadpole and You Were a Fish" was my favorite, but I also enjoyed "Dracula Makes a Martini" and "Isaac Newton's Vast Ocean of Truth". There were some works in here that I didn't enjoy as much (the section on bogus science was very hit or miss) but overall, this was good. 3.5 stars rounded up.

[Lynne Cosmano · Rating 2 out of 5]

Math, literature, religion.......struggled thru all these deep thoughts

[Susan Katz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some interesting essays, but most were a bit tedious. Disappointing.

[Jerre Mcquinn · Rating 2 out of 5]

a collection of articles from SciAm and elsewhere. They were better taken one at a time instead of all in the same book

[Avid · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hard to rate this one due to the variety in the essays. But it finished strong with Religion and Politics, so i rounded up. 😉

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Martin Gardner is probably best known for his recreational mathematics column that ran in Scientific American for twenty-five years but he was actually quite the polymath who could write intelligently on a whole range of subjects including literature, poetry, philosophy, religion, and of course, science. Unfortunately this collection of essays, published shortly before his death in 2010, while being generally enjoyable, is far from Gardner at his best, and a number of the essays end rather abruptly with little to no conclusion.

Gardner was a national treasure, but if this were the first book by him that you'd read, you'd wonder what all the fuss was about. For essays, a much better place to start would be The Night Is Large: Collected Essays, 1938-1995 or The Whys of a Philosophical Scrivener. If it's math and/or puzzles you're looking for, you can't do better than The Colossal Book of Mathematics and The Colossal Book of Short Puzzles and Problems.

3 stars ("liked it").

[Josh Knowles · Rating 3 out of 5]

I grew up reading Martin Gardner's math books. Loved 'em. So I was excited to give his new collection a shot. And it has a few good essays. I enjoyed learning about "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" author L. Frank Baum and the poem "Evolution" (from where the title of the book comes). And I'm always game for a good thrashing of Ann Coulter. Sadly, though, the math chapters were way too elementary and have been covered by Gardner himself on many occasions. And the chapters dealing with faith and skepticism are so basic and so much like shooting fish in barrels that I started skipping them altogether. So. I think this book might be wonderful for a high school student, but there's just not really enough there for an adult reader. I still have great respect for Martin Gardner, but either I've outgrown him or this isn't his greatest effort. Possibly a combination.

[Louisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

When you were a tadpole and I was a fish
In the Paleozoic time,
And side by side on the ebbing tide
We sprawled through the ooze and slime,
Or skittered with many a caudal flip
Through the depths of the Cambrian fen,
My heart was rife with the joy of life,
For I loved you even then.

For Gardner's musings on the beautiful poem Evolution (by Langdon Smith, 1858-1908) and the cover featuring M.C. Escher's Flying Fish alone this little book of essays and reviews is well worth buying. Reading this in tandem with the The Whys of a Philosophical Scrivener, (also by Martin Gardner) however, it becomes a bit repetitive, as several chapters are included in both books.

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Speculations About This and That" is an appropriate subtitle for this book. It contains essays on topics as seemingly diverse as Ann Coulter, The Wizard of Oz, Fibonacci numbers, Santa Claus, the Titanic, and socialism.

I found some of the essays interesting, some boring, some thought-provoking, and some over my head. Many of the essays were actually prefaces to other books. Most were on topics about which I would probably not read an entire book, but one essay did inspire me to seek out a copy of the G.K. Chesterton book.

[Ayse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Martin Gardner is always an interesting and thought provoking read -- from solving logic puzzles to analyzing poetry to defending theism, this book is an example of the renaissance man at his best. Though some of the articles dragged on a little too long, most notably the discussion on the Titanic, and the debunking of unity thought activities, each was an enjoyable slice of Gardner's wit and enthusiasm. I was especially taken with the essay on the "Tales of the Long Bow" and the discussion of the title essay, "When I was a tadpole and you were a fish" -- what a glorious defense of evolution.

[Ed · Rating 4 out of 5]

The final collection of articles by the late Martin Gardner. This fine collection is worth reading if only for the title poem.

500 "When you were a tadpole and I was a fish : and other speculations about this and that" - In this collection of essays, Gardner shows that he is much more than a skeptical debunker of bad science and pseudoscience. The book also contains a selection of essays on literature, logic, and mathematics (including a brain teaser involving vampire martinis).

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of essays, mostly forwards from other books, but also some book reviews, by Gardner. I enjoyed the pieces on Chesterton, who I haven't read, and L. Frank Baum. Also fascinating is Gardner's defense of "fideism" (basically, Gardner's faith in a God and afterlife) based, at least in part, on Pascal's Wager. Worth reading.

[University of Chicago Magazine]

Martin Gardner, AB’36
Author

From our pages (Jan–Feb/10): "Gardner, a nonagenarian and former writer of Scientific American’s Mathematical Games column, collects his essays on Fibonacci sequences, The Wizard of Oz, the sinking of the Titanic, religious fundamentalism, and those debunking what he calls 'fads and fallacies in the name of science.'"

[Smellsofbikes · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love MG, and I like what he's writing, but this felt like a bunch of well-written preaching to the choir. It's fun if you're in his corner, but I found less enlightenment and insight than in some of his other books.

[Timothy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Only made it half way through. Really unexceptional writing. The parts I read were mostly criticisms of religious and paranormal science. It was all sort of preaching to the choir, and not in an interesting sort of way.

[Hal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some interesting essays. Could have done without the religious stuff.

[Miriam · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just couldn't get into it. The author sounded like an angry old man.

[Gregory · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good, not great. Mostly this is a collection of things scraped up from random sources, for example prefaces that Martin Gardner wrote for other books.

[Vida]

A series of brilliant peeks into the mind of Martin Gardner. Now I need to get some more of his books; I remember fondly the Paradox one from my childhood.

[Heather Larcombe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved parts, slogged through other parts. Overall worth reading.

[Bill Leach · Rating 3 out of 5]

A number of short essays on various topics. Perhaps the most interesting chapter was on single poem poets, highlighting Langdon Smith's Evolution: "When You Were A Tadpole and I Was A Fish".

[Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed getting to read what was going on in this great mathematician's head.