Mozart Melody Dicer

This is Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's original game for composing music, "Musikalisches Wurfelspiel", K516f, called "Melody Dicer" for short. To play the game, one tosses dice or selects a number, then follows the directions which were set down by Mozart two centuries ago. The possibilities of different melodies that may be arrived at are almost limitless. "The Melody Dicer can produce a phenomenal 100 quadrillion tunes, about 30 times as many people as there are in the world." Newsweek International. Playing the minuets from this game would keep the entire population of the world busy for the next 90 years. !

Martin Gardner's Mathematical Games columns in Scientific American inspired and entertained several generations of mathematicians and scientists. Gardner in his crystal-clear prose illuminated corners of mathematics, especially recreational mathematics, that most people had no idea existed. His playful spirit and inquisitive nature invite the reader into an exploration of beautiful mathematical ideas along with him. These columns were both a revelation and a gift when he wrote them; no one--before Gardner--had written about mathematics like this. They continue to be a marvel. This is the original 1988 edition and contains columns published from 1974-1976.

Creative Confluence is a highly original work, building bridges between physics, biology, technology, economy, organizations, neuropsychology, literature, arts, and cultural history. It is an attempt to explain the process of creativity as a universal principle of nature, cutting through the composition of atoms as well as human design of novel combinations. Creative Confluence is yet another impressive book and a sequel to Epistemics of the Virtual, indicating that perception and imagination operate in close contact. In a clear and light tone, the work holds that rational problem-solving strategies are most relevant in deterministic problem spaces whereas creativity is pertinent in more probabilistic situations. Theories of creativity and innovation are explored by means of computer simulations. Conditionals that favor creativity such as diversity, tolerance, and openness are discussed, forwarding a compelling vision of creative leadership.