Una storia intricata

by Lewis Carroll

Dieci "storie matematiche" scritte nell'inconfondibile stile dell'autore di"Alice nel paese delle meraviglie", presentano con garbato umorismo personaggibislacchi in circostanze straordinarie. Ma c'è una logica stringente anchesotto le pagine del nonsenso più ardito: ogni storia contiene un quesitomatematico, per risolvere il quale, oltre le elementari conoscenze di unbambino, sono indispensabili nella stessa misura la logica e la fantasia.Questa edizione viene riproposta a tutti gli appassionati di logicamatematica.

Genres: Classics, Fiction, Short Stories, Mathematics, Childrens, Poetry, Victorian

176 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1885

About the author

The Reverend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, better known by the pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican clergyman and photographer.

His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass as well as the poems "The Hunting of the Snark" and "Jabberwocky", all considered to be within the genre of literary nonsense.

Oxford scholar, Church of England Deacon, University Lecturer in Mathematics and Logic, academic author of learned theses, gifted pioneer of portrait photography, colourful writer of imaginative genius and yet a shy and pedantic man, Lewis Carroll stands pre-eminent in the pantheon of inventive literary geniuses.

He also has works published under his real name.

Reviews

[Silvia ❄️ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Storie davvero intricate, ma divertenti! Questo libriccino contiene 10 piccoli enigmi matematici, che Carroll chiama “nodi” e alcuni sono effettivamente alla portata di tutti. Ti portano a ragionare, ma sicuramente la presenza delle soluzioni e dei commenti dell’autore stesso aiutano nello svolgimento, se ci sono dubbi. Altrimenti, si legge direttamente la soluzione e via! Infatti questi nodi venivano pubblicati periodicamente da Carroll su una rivista e i lettori avevano la possibilità di risolverli e inviare la loro risposta. Dopodiché, nel numero successivo, lui scriveva la risoluzione e stilava una classifica dei migliori e dei peggiori. Inutile dire quanto sarcasmo usasse per beffarsi di chi sbagliava! In conclusione, sia che ci si lasci coinvolgere nei ragionamenti matematici, sia che si voglia semplicemente scoprire un lato dell’autore meno conosciuto, è una piccola chicca da tenere in libreria per gli appassionati di Lewis Carroll.

[VerseVoyager · Rating 1 out of 5]

This 'Tangled Tale' is absolutely tangled! The book didn't tickle my fancy. It consists of various puzzles related to 'Math', which seems to be the most confusing part. Although it has answers to the questions at the end of the book.

I LOATHE MATH so, it maybe the reason I didn't like this book nor did I try to solve the quizzes in it. This book can be liked by someone who likes math or is good at it. I simply read it as I found the name of the book quite engrossing.

As a conclusion, it is not a book that I enjoyed reading. Just completed it as I wasn't willing to put it in the DNF section.

[CheshRCat]

Ah, Carroll. My life would be nothing without thee. (It's possible to hate someone's guts, but can you love someone's guts? (Something of a bizarre expression at the best of times. I mean, guts? What is hateable or loveable about anyone's guts? I mean, they're guts. I suppose it means, the centre of you; guts=your very core. But it's still bizarre.) If it IS possible, I love Lewis Carroll's guts.)

AAAAANYWAY, weirdo parenthesis aside...

So normally I hate math. Loooooathe it. But this book is math math math--really difficult math too--and it's one heck of a lot of fun.
Probably in large part because it's presented in stories, rich with Carroll flair. The math problems are presented by an eccentric cast of characters: The teenage Clara and her aunt, Mad Mathesis; Hugh and Lambert, two young boys who say "Rather" and "I say!" an awful lot, and their tutor Balbus; and a pair of medieval knights--an old, long-suffering one and a young excitable one.

The math is pretty hard, I grant you, but I would recommend this book to the non math-orientated, (ahem) if you love Carroll, just for the pleasure of the stories. That said, I'd also recommend it to people who didn't particularly like Alice but love math, because the problems are engaging and well-done.

[Avery · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was so fun! I could only solve about half the puzzles, but it was still enjoyable to read the stories even when I couldn’t figure out the “knot.” I also really liked reading the analysis (essentially grading) of the answers people submitted at the time. Seeing how other people solved the problem (and if they made the same mistakes that I did) is a lot more satisfying than just reading a solution.

[Maca Gomez · Rating 1 out of 5]

Este libro me sirvió para reafirmar que los números y yo somos totalmente incompatibles.

That's it.

[Yupa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Si impara che già nell'800 giovani ragazzi e ragazze inglesi che scrivevano alle riviste, per mettere alla prova la loro destrezza nel risolvere i quesiti matematici, ricorrevano a pseudonimi simpatici e fantasiosi, che non sfigurerebbero ancora oggi, nell'era telematica: GIOIOSA, VECCHIO MICIO, BREZZA MARINA, DINAH MITE, QUERCIA DI PALUDE, GINESTRONE, e così via.

A loro l'onore di ricevere l'esame e i commenti di -nientemeno- Lewis Carroll in persona.
E spiace vedere che già allora, come oggi in Rete, c'era chi non sapeva discernere lo spirito degli ironici e garbati rimbrotti di tanto autore, lamentando invece il rischio che i lettori ne risultassero offesi.

Il libello, singolare punto d'incontro tra le fantasie libere e sregolate di Carroll e la pedanteria un po' polverosa del matematico e insegnante reverendo Dodgson, risulterà piacevole e curioso soprattutto per chi desidera non saperne mai abbastanza della sua doppia figura.
Agli altri, probabilmente, non dirà molto.

In coda al volumetto alcuni estratti di lettura psicanalitica sull'autore di Alice: tra "regressioni orali", "complessi edipici" e "pulsioni aggressive", sono esempî di nonsense accademico applicati a colui, Carrol, che del nonsense è stato nominato il rappresentante maggiore; con l'unica differenza che i primi, a differenza del secondo, si prendono molto molto sul serio; e il riso che scaturisce spontaneo di fronte all'assurdo, quando questo pretende di farsi parola di Verità, va a piegarsi in un moto di sottile inquietudine.

[Pablo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Un libro que sólo disfrutarán los matemáticos de pura cepa (de ahí mi nota). Le daría una estrella si no fuera por el sentido del humor tan fino que tiene y de los brillantes juegos de palabras.

[Hedi · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is an absolutely brilliant concept of a ‘book’ - maths, logics (and physics) problems presented in short stories were published in a magazine to which readers could then send in solutions. These, and the correct answers, were discussed and rated in an absolutely hilarious manner in the following issues (second half of the book) by the original author.
I can not count how many times I was totally blown away by how cleverly Carroll used the English language, especially in his sometimes snarky replies to reader questions/complaints/submissions.

That said, I was severely chagrined by this gem, as I have a feeling that a few generations back most people with a ‘higher education’ would have been able to solve these with not too much effort, whereas now... Scratch that, back in high school I might have had more of an idea how to start approaching these problem sets. And now I’m reduced to drawing a big gaping ought in that particular area of the brain. Ok, listening to the LibriVox audio version instead of seeing the questions on paper (and being too lazy to grab a pen and write them down myself) didn’t help. But still. Shame, me, shame!

To sum up - this tale was a touch too tangled for me and the rating reflects my own lack more than the content, but it also serves to warn any contemporary readers that unless you know your maths, this one might leave you in knots.

[Joanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book consists of a series of puzzles (called "knots") of the missionaries and cannibals problem (wherein one must get all the people across a river in a boat that only holds xx persons and there are constraints about who can travel together or be left alone on one or the other side of the river). Some of the problems were more math based and some were more like traveling salesmen type maps.

Overall, many of these "knots" felt more like tricks than like puzzles or problems. I got fewer than half of the solutions correct, but in reading the answers, I sometimes felt that I'd been unfairly tricked by the phrasing of the problem rather than by a failure of thought. I suppose that's the way with these things.

At the end of the book, the author gives the solutions and also reviews the solutions that were sent in when these problems were published. I enjoyed reading the answers and hearing about the wrong answers that others had come up with--at least that made me feel better about failing to find the correct solution so often.

[honeysucker_ · Rating 1 out of 5]

Abych byla uprimna, necetla jsem ji. Jen jsem ji prolistovala a absolutne nechapu, ze neco takovyho vubec vyslo. Mozna, ze rebusky pro namahani mozecku uvnitr pribehu zni skvele a treba i skvele jsou, nemuzu vlastne posoudit, ale odepisovani jednotlivym korespondentum s komentari k odpovedim? Srsly? Ten typek byl properly weird, ale nic nema na tu pedofilni grafickou upravu. Podle anotace Lewis Carroll rad fotil nahy maly holcicky. Ne, diky. Tohle je jedina kniha, kterou jsem surove nacpala do chrtanu popelnice. Bleh.

[Chambodia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had a perfect run of abysmal math teachers. Had this not been the case, this would have been a four or possibly even five star read. I still enjoyed Carroll's way with words, but I didn't even attempt to solve the problems.

Apparently, this was an interactive book, in that readers sent their answers to Carroll and he basically graded them and pointed out the bits they got wrong, which is pretty cool.

[Hex75 · Rating 3 out of 5]

l'antenato del "quesito con la susi", solo che invece della pin-up de "la settimana enigmistica" abbiamo i personaggi del grande carroll: alla fine il voto lo do sulla fiducia, il libretto l'ho finito di leggere ma gli enigmi erano via via sempre più ostici e io decisamente troppo pigro per tentare di risolverli...

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit of a palate cleanser before whatever my next book is. I read this because I like a bit of funny math puzzling (even though I didn't spend too many mental resources on the puzzles here) and that's exactly what you get, along with Carroll's hilarious analysis of the solutions submitted by the readers (this was originally published serially).

[Morgan Wagner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant. Loved it.
Each knot is its own tale but as i read through it i found that you come back to those same characters to continue their story (or to tell a new piece of it).
Interweaved within the stories are logic problems; and they fit within the storyline of the tale being told.
Solutions are at the end.
and seeing the math numbers versus reading it in words is quite something.

[Kin ML · Rating 3 out of 5]

+ Problemas curiosos con soluciones no evidentes.
+ Muchos juegos de palabra y dobles sentidos en la narración de los problemas.

- Enunciados demasiado ambiguos en ocasiones. El título lo avisa.
- La versión traducida requiere de muchas notas explicativas que le quitan un poco de ritmo a la lectura.

[Markéta Kimi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ne, já a matematika se rádi nemáme. Od střední školy máme spolu uzavřenou dohodu o neútočení. Ale Carrollovy příběhy a matematické zádrhely včetně skvěle napsaných komentářů jsou bezchybné a naprosto okouzlující.

[Kyla · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was fun to try to solve the various math problems, but I couldn’t figure all of them out.

[Natalie · Rating 2 out of 5]

19th century English comedy - not my cup of tea

[Daisy Dandelion · Rating 3 out of 5]

Boy, the math was super tricky. Mostly because it is in story form. But not modern day English, of course. And that made it very endearing.

[Thrishitha · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is not actually the one of the best book. This book is not enjoyable and confused

[Ari Fordsham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Delightful.

[MaRia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Making the math fun and enjoyable!

[Claire · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5/5

[Lilly B · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wtf

[Kathy O’Neal · Rating 2 out of 5]

Likely one of the earliest collections of short tales that pop back and forth between characters. Interesting and some fun math references, but more scattered than his usual fare.

[Alecsphys · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was immediately attracted by this book once I saw it into the shelve of the bookshop. Who does not love the famous Alice? Just starting with the title (the original one) you can appreciate how Carroll plays with words. Puzzles are nice but never astonishing from a mathematical point of view, while the tales are in line with the Carroll's nonsense style.

[Tinquerbelle]

Carroll, Lewis
The Complete Illustrated Works of Lewis Carroll

In compilation only.

[Mashell · Rating 3 out of 5]

cute
read it Dave and let me know what you think

[Molly]

I love his use of math and riddles.

[Roza Howton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gives you a good mental workout!