On and off and on the path to Dead Reckoning

[rtb]

Ron,
In the 1960's I read various chapters on calculating prodigies and mental calculation from a number of books:  Mathematical Recreations and Essays by Ball, The Magic of Numbers by Tocquet, The Trachtenberg Speed System of Basic Mathematics, Calculator's Cunning by Menninger.  In the 1980's Smith published the Great Mental Calculators.  Excellent book!  Why isn't it still in print?  In the 1990's you published Dead Reckoning and Arthur Benjamin published Mathemagics.  So now 2010 is just around the corner and you have this great web site with interesting pdf articles on mental calculation.  Thank you for the great work! 
Do you happen to have an online combined bibliography to your book?
rtb

[doerfler]

rtb,

Thanks for writing the first member post on this mental calculation discussion board! This board was set up very recently as a place to discuss various points on mental calculation, but I've been so busy with my Plans Unfolding software release (see that discussion board!) that I haven't really kicked it off. So this nudges me to start posting here. I'll be launching topics on tips and tricks people might offer for mental calculation as well as for tidbits I've run across that haven't merited writing a whole article on.

The books you mention are all exceptionally good. Calculator's Cunning by Menninger is an often overlooked book but it's one of my favorites, and of course Arthur Benjamin's book (his new version is titled Secrets of Mental Math) is also excellent. I read the Trachtenburg book in high school and it launched my interest in the subject. The Great Mental Calculators has been out of print for a while and I have no clue why that is, as it's a really unique book and a great read to boot.

After my book was published in 1993 I gathered material here and there on mental calculation but didn't write anything up on it. A few years ago I started the website as a way of recording notes and errata on the book--I had been bothered with errors and unclear statements in the book (existing partly because my edits on the galley proofs didn't make it into the final book for some reason). John McIntosh labored through the book in extreme detail and helped isolate these instances. So then I started writing new material on mental calculation for the Online Material section of the website, and I haven't stopped since. It's nice to get back into this field.

As far as a bibliography, are you referring to a combined bibliography from the ends of all the chapters of the book, or a combined bibliography of everything I've written on the subject? In the first case the answer is no, I don't have a separate single listing but if you want one I could dig up a digital copy of my book and create one fairly easily. In the second case the only things I've written on mental calculation are:

• the book
• the various articles on the Online Materials webpage at http://www.myreckonings.com/Dead_Reckoning/Online/Online_Material.htm
• the 3-part essay on Lightning Calculators on my blog starting at http://myreckonings.com/wordpress/2008/04/15/lightning-calculators-i-the-players/

My Sherlock Holmes paper found at http://www.myreckonings.com/Sherlock_Holmes/Sherlock_Holmes.htm also deals with mental calculation.

If you are looking for a general bibliography of good sources for techniques of mental calculation, that would be a very interesting list to create--interesting because of works I would include and because of works I would not include. Sounds like a good topic for this board. I'll start that topic soon and offer my initial suggestions and see what others think.

Regarding the references in my book, I've placed a few scanned copies of really old ones on the website, but I've been hesitant about providing newer references because of copyright ethics. However, if anyone would like a copy of any of these references for personal use only, please contact me and I'll utilize the exemptions for personal and educational research to provide it.

Sounds like you have a real background in this field. Please feel free to start any topic on mental calculation here.

Regards,

Ron

[rtb]

Ron,

Thanks for the quick reply.  I am looking for a combined bibliography from the ends of all the chapters of your book.  I would also be very interested in the other bibliography - the general bibliography of good sources for techniques of mental calculation - and why you included them...but wouldn't it be good to have also have a bibliography of mediocre or worse sources and why they are excluded?
Another book that I keep dipping into is The Penguin Dictionary of Curious and Interesting Numbers by David Wells. 

Sincerely,
rtb

[doerfler]

Hmm, I'm having difficulty finding a digital version of my book. It was written back in the days of 5-1/4" floppies and DOS versions of WordStar and WordPerfect. Once I find it I have to fire up an old computer of mine that has this type of floppy drive as well as a 3-1/2" floppy drive in order to transfer it to a current computer and sort the bibliographic references. I'll look again this weekend and see if I can find it.

I'll start a thread on "Literature on Mental Calculation" here this weekend and start contributing and inviting comments on works concerning mental calculation. I see your point about including works that are mediocre or worse as well. It's a good idea, although by nature I'm an exceedingly gentle critic. The third part of my blog essay on Lightning Calculators ("The Media") was the most carefully written piece I've ever labored over, and I'm still not totally comfortable with its critical tone. 

Ron