Of all of Raymond Smullyan’s many books, A Mixed Bag: Jokes, Puzzles, Riddles and Memorabilia perhaps best captures the timeless delight of the casual conversation of this American polymath. A seamless continuum of jokes, stories, puzzles, and reflections, caught in an deliciously unpremeditated arc that nonetheless is remarkably cohesive, it is sparkling and charming proof that cheerfulness need not be incompatible with intelligence, nor pleasure with wisdom.

Notices

“Raymond Smullyan—the amazing logician, mathematician, concert pianist, and humorist—delights us with his latest book, a stream of consciousness and a seemingly endless journey through puzzles, reflections, jokes, and anecdotes—and, most of all, fun! Buy this book and enter the river of Dr. Smullyan’s mind, with all its mental tributaries.”

—Cliff Pickover, author of The Math Book, The Physics Book, and The Medical Book.

“I love it. It’s like going to a vaudeville show where all the jokes make logical sense and the one-liners come fast and furious. l could not tell if it was logical to laugh or not!”

—Peter Denning, author of The Innovator’s Way