The Canterbury Puzzles and Other Curious Problems
A Classic Collection of Arithmetic, Geometry, Logic, Chess, and Combinatorial ChallengesBy Henry Ernest Dudeney
Length4h 27m
About this audiobook
Henry Ernest Dudeney's *The Canterbury Puzzles and Other Curious Problems* unites recreational mathematics with the narrative architecture of Chaucer's pilgrimage. Its problems—spanning arithmetic, geometry, dissections, logic, combinatorics, and ingenious verbal or spatial conundrums—are presented through a succession of travelers whose contests and conversations give the collection dramatic continuity. Dudeney's prose is lucid, playful, and often theatrical, yet the solutions demand genuine mathematical insight: readers must discover structure, test conjecture, and distinguish elegant reasoning from mere calculation. The volume belongs to the late-Victorian and Edwardian tradition of mathematical miscellanies, while anticipating modern puzzle culture and popular mathematical exposition. Dudeney (1857–1930), one of Britain's most influential creators of recreational mathematics, wrote under the celebrated "Sphinx" persona and contributed puzzles to newspapers and periodicals before gathering them in book form. His work reflects an era fascinated by self-education, rational amusement, and the possibility that mathematical thought could be cultivated outside formal institutions. By adapting Chaucer's familiar literary world, he makes abstract problems socially vivid and connects contemporary ingenuity with an enduring English narrative tradition. This book is recommended to readers who enjoy mathematics as both an intellectual discipline and an art of invention. It rewards patient solitary solving, lively discussion, and rereading, since its charm lies not only in the answers but in the unexpected paths leading to them. Students, historians of popular science, puzzle enthusiasts, and admirers of literary framing will find it an exceptionally rich and enduring collection.
Audiobook details
Rating★★★ 3.4 (76)
Includes Goodreads
GenreScience and Nature
Length4 hrs 27 mins
Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices
FormateBook with Audio
Publish dateJun 2, 2012
LanguageEnglish
Table of contents
1Chess Fundamentals (Annotated)
2PRESS OPINIONS ON "THE CANTERBURY PUZZLES."
3THE CANTERBURY PUZZLES
4PREFACE
5INTRODUCTION
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6THE CANTERBURY PUZZLES
71.—The Reve's Puzzle.
82.—The Pardoner's Puzzle.
93.—The Miller's Puzzle.
104.—The Knight's Puzzle.
115.—The Wife of Bath's Riddles.
126.—The Host's Puzzle.
137.—The Clerk of Oxenford's Puzzle.
148.—The Tapiser's Puzzle.
159.—The Carpenter's Puzzle.
1610.—The Puzzle of the Squire's Yeoman.
1711.—The Nun's Puzzle.
1812.—The Merchant's Puzzle.
1913.—The Man of Law's Puzzle.
2014.—The Weaver's Puzzle.
2115.—The Cook's Puzzle.
2216.—The Sompnour's Puzzle.
2317.—The Monk's Puzzle.
2418.—The Shipman's Puzzle.
2519.—The Puzzle of the Prioress.
2620.—The Puzzle of the Doctor of Physic.
2721.—The Ploughman's Puzzle.
2822.—The Franklin's Puzzle.
2923.—The Squire's Puzzle.
3024.—The Friar's Puzzle.
3125.—The Parson's Puzzle.
3226.—The Haberdasher's Puzzle.
3327.—The Dyer's Puzzle.
3428.—The Great Dispute between the Friar and the Sompnour.
3529.—Chaucer's Puzzle.
3630.—The Puzzle of the Canon's Yeoman.
3731.—The Manciple's Puzzle.
38PUZZLING TIMES AT SOLVAMHALL CASTLE
3932.—The Game of Bandy-Ball.
4033.—Tilting at the Ring.
4134.—The Noble Demoiselle.
4235.—The Archery Butt.
4336.—The Donjon Keep Window.
4437.—The Crescent and the Cross.
4538.—The Amulet.
4639.—The Snail on the Flagstaff.
4740.—Lady Isabel's Casket.
48THE MERRY MONKS OF RIDDLEWELL
4941.—The Riddle of the Fish-pond.
5042.—The Riddle of the Pilgrims.
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