Some Really Old Boardgames

Take a look at this article about some really old boardgames (and one from 1940), including one from the 17th century, that are in a collection in the Houghton Library.

I like the cover of "The Magic Ring". :)

Board game aficionados! We dug through @HoughtonLib's archives to find the oldest games in their collections — some created over 300 years ago https://t.co/jbg55aHuyM

— Harvard University (@Harvard) March 17, 2018

(Tip of the cap to Gabrielle Birkman.)

52,560,000 Minutes Late

This contrasts with the advertised tardiness, which was a mere 40 minutes.

Note: I did a quick calculation, in which I assumed 100 full years; this gives an estimate of 52,596,000 minutes. The article didn't indicate even the month in which the book was checked out. In my calculation, I took 100 years, 365.25 days per year, 24 hours per day, and 60 minutes per hour.

A message to librarians

Attention: In mathematics, the fact that a book has a new edition by no means whatsoever should be taken to imply that the old edition should be discarded! (Just because it works that way in some subjects doesn't mean that it works that way in every subject. Some of them haven't exactly changed much in a while...)

The Somerville library ("Library!") was discarding some old mathematics books in the interest of space (which I appreciate is necessary). I took some of these myself because I think that there is a chance that I might have some use for them (even if it's only on a rare occasion) and a few of them I insisted that they put back because the student demand for them already outstrips the supply. (A couple of the books I rescued are ones I don't expect to use at all, but I have historical interest in them for various reasons.) Throwing these away would then exacerbate a problem that already exists. One of the books that I so rescued was this one (technically, the same edition but under a different publisher). Unbelievable...

Advice for people trapped in libraries

An article in this week's issue of Oxford Student (one of two competing local student newspapers) ended with the following paragraph:

"The library advises any student who finds themself trapped in the Social Sciences Library in future to try to return to the main reception, follow signs to the fire exits or, in very drastic situations, set off the fire alarm."

I have just one question: What should people do if they get caught in the Mathematics library? (Maybe give up hope because they were there in the first place?)


OK, so I technically shouldn't make fun of things in light of the serious situation (people got trapped inside the library during a suspected gas leak that thankfully turned out not to be an actual leak), but there are parts of that specific phrasing that strike me as a bit absurd (especially when used as the ending paragraph of an article rather than directly as the public service announcement that this presumably started off as) and consequently amuse me (independent of the gravity of the situation described in the article). And, yes, I am the type of person who would laugh at my own funeral.