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Mystical puzzles, sacred games
Apr. 5th, 2004 12:55 pmI'd guess that ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
entaru and some of my other friends may already know this, but I think it is so cool that in ancient times, many games and puzzles were not merely entertainment, but had mystical and religious significance. "Magic Squares" were not just interesting from a mathematical viewpoint, but were considered to be sacred and literally magical. A lot of today's games share roots with divination systems from the past. You can actually tell fortunes with a regular stack of playing cards, for instance-- it's much like reading tarot, except without the Major Arcana.
I got this book, "Ancient Puzzles : Classic Brainteasers and Other Timeless Mathematical Games of the Last TenCenturies, by Dominic Olivastro" :
http://tinyurl.com/28twa
at a used book store several years ago. It's maybe a little scholarly for some, but that's why I liked it. I have just skimmed through it, reading bits here and there, but I'm adding it to my list of books to take another look at. Fun stuff.
entaru and some of my other friends may already know this, but I think it is so cool that in ancient times, many games and puzzles were not merely entertainment, but had mystical and religious significance. "Magic Squares" were not just interesting from a mathematical viewpoint, but were considered to be sacred and literally magical. A lot of today's games share roots with divination systems from the past. You can actually tell fortunes with a regular stack of playing cards, for instance-- it's much like reading tarot, except without the Major Arcana.I got this book, "Ancient Puzzles : Classic Brainteasers and Other Timeless Mathematical Games of the Last TenCenturies, by Dominic Olivastro" :
http://tinyurl.com/28twa
at a used book store several years ago. It's maybe a little scholarly for some, but that's why I liked it. I have just skimmed through it, reading bits here and there, but I'm adding it to my list of books to take another look at. Fun stuff.
