Part of the fun in writing a book like this is that it brings you into contact with people you would never otherwise have met. These included, for example, Derek Smith, lift guru at the company Otis, who was able to demystify the curious logic of the elevator; Richard Forsyth at Luton University, who is an expert on identifying the authorship of manuscripts; and Pauline Matkins, the fount of knowledge on taxi fares at Transport for London. All went out of their way to help us.
We also received generous time and help from some friends in the world of popular mathematics: John Haigh of Sussex University, David Singmaster the international puzzle master, and the curious and interesting David Wells. Thanks also to John Bibby and co. at Count-On for your support, and to Toni Beardon and the team at NRICH.
In topics ranging from measles to music we are indebted to Matt Keeling, Chris Healey, Richard Harris, Simon Pattinson, John Treleven, Ronny Peikert, Tony Lewis, Keith Still, Nigel Rees, Ken Baker, Andrew Masraf, Gordon Vince, Peter Barker, Alun Evans, Barry Leventhal, Craig Dibble, Colin Aitkin, Jim Bates, Paul Mills and Tim Jones for their expert input. And this book would be almost unrecognisable in its finished state if it weren’t for the feedback from Martin Daniels, David Rogerson, Helen Nicol, Chas Bullock, Hugh Jones, Charlotte Howard, Steven Barsky, Louise Hunt and David Flavell. Any errors that remain in the book are down to our failure to take heed of the Lincoln Index (see here).
The multi-talented Barbara Shore once again excelled herself in converting abstract notions into delightful illustrations.
Finally, thanks to Elaine and Sarah for their devoted support throughout.