Johnny Ball - Ball of Confusion: Puzzles, Problems and Perplexing Posers

If I had a pound for every time someone had told me how my Dads television shows had made science and maths a joy for them when they were a kid, which in turn had encouraged them to follow a career in engineering or medicine or some other clever vocation well then, Id have a ridiculously enormous pot full of coins!

Exactly how many coins would be in that pot would take some figuring out it might involve some guess work, perhaps some logical thinking. Of course you could just empty the pot and count the coins but that would be far too obvious. At this point my Dad would wade in and give a fantabulous explanation of averages and probability.

With my heritage youd think Id be good with numbers, a natural. Sadly this is not the case. The thirst for scientific knowledge and understanding of all things numerical is, apparently, not handed down in the genes. One might even argue that when it came to me the intelligence gene skipped a generation. I was an average maths student. I was only really good with digits when it involved remembering boys telephone numbers. But you have the best teacher in the world right there in your Dad! people would say. Yes, occasionally I would ask for some help with my algebra homework and my Dad would ooze enthused explanations about the Egyptians weighing systems and Pythagoras theorem which, although fascinating, still didnt explain to me why x2 + y2 = z2.

Its true, my Dad knows an awful lot about a huge number of things. What he doesnt know about the history of science and mathematics is probably not worth knowing. His mind is like an Escher drawing; a never-ending maze of facts and figures about everything from Archimedes, Roman road building, gravity and trigonometry to Johannes Kepler, pi, space exploration, the universe I could go on.

The best bit is that its all self-taught he went to grammar school but never to university. He just read books great books. Hes written a few good ones himself. He loves learning about how things work, how men and women have made such invaluable discoveries and how there is maths behind everything around us. Dad believes maths and sciences are terrific, important subjects and enormously fun to learn if taught with enthusiasm and energy.

Family gatherings in our house can be great fun heated debates about who were better, the Egyptians or the Romans, arguments about global warming or over which is the most valuable number. The grandkids in the family quite rightly think Granddad knows everything a taxi driver recently joked with me, Most people have Google, your kids have Granddad.

Im so proud of my Dad and all that hes done for the sciences and for education. Hes a very clever, brilliant chap, so its an absolute pleasure to share him with everyone. This especially includes the people who listen to my radio show, where we do a weekly feature called Ball of Confusion in which Dad sets puzzles. I, of course, rarely get them right but when I do its such a thrill I even surprise myself. I do hope you and your family enjoy this collection of some of the best.

When my daughter Zoe began the BBC Radio 2 Saturday Morning Breakfast Show in 2008, her producer asked for ideas for special features. Zoe asked me if I could do a puzzle of some kind on each show. I would set the puzzle in the first hour and give the answer and explanation an hour or so later.

At first, I was worried that I wouldnt be able to find enough puzzles that would work on radio, but I soon found that there was really no problem at all. Radio is such a wonderful medium, in that you can paint an image or set a scene in just a few words.

Zoe and I have now delivered well over 100 puzzles together and I am amazed to find that I am still nowhere near to running out of ideas. I have all my puzzle experience, which began at school, as well as my many old books on all things mathematical to thank for that.

I should mention that on the show, Zoe very seldom comes up with the answer to a puzzle. Now, that could be because she is really quite stupid at puzzles, but it isnt that way at all.

When the show is transmitted the listener has an hour to deliberate and try to solve the problem before we give the answer. But for Zoe, there is no thinking time at all. For one thing, she has the rest of the show to do!

But more importantly, the puzzles are all pre-recorded. Otherwise I would be making a trip into the London studios every Saturday morning before dawn, for five minutes work. So about three times a year, we record a whole bunch of puzzles and for each, I deliver the question, and then almost instantly I launch into the answer and explanation. So Zoe really is allowed no thinking time at all.

She is actually quite good at puzzles where she gets it from, I dont know. Just like me, though, she is often slow to show confidence. However, given time and encouragement, she is pretty good at everything she sets her mind to. But I would say that wouldnt I? Im her Dad.

Hey, thats an idea for my next book Ball of Compliments!

When I was a comedian, it soon became apparent that there was no such thing as an original joke. Whatever the wise-crack, pun, witticism, tall tale, spoonerism, one-liner, play on words, rudeism or gag, it could always be proved to be a newer version of something that had been said before.

So it is with puzzles. If you want an early comic puzzle, try this! Why, in an Egyptian tomb did someone long ago inscribe the words (or rather hieroglyphs) that said, Can I borrow your washing line? Someones spread jam on mine! It is clearly a joke, but the puzzle is who thought of it and chose to record it for posterity?

Almost all the puzzles in this book, though re-set or juggled about by me, were created by people in the past who revelled in puzzles. As with any good joke, there are always people wanting to pass puzzles on for others to enjoy.