"Alice in Wonderland" holds a special place in literature, and reasonably so. It's a gem of nonsense poetry, fantasy and delight for children and adults alike. Martin Gardner's edition takes the work and makes it more relevant (not trying to sound derogatory to Lewis Carroll's books by saying that). Much like anything rooted in popular culture (be it Shakespeare or Seinfeld), we lose a good deal of the context and allusions the further divorced we are from the time of publication. Gardner thus informs us of the origins of the song parodies, the logical reasoning behind the bizarre characters' even more bizarre assertions, and both the origins, and reception, of "Alice in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking Glass".

"Alice" is a thing of beauty, and stands up on its own against all odds. But this is a doubly enjoyable experience, and if you like this, check out some of Carroll's other works! ( )

Treasure ( )

Caroll's original text and illustrations by Tenniel - annotations by Martin Gardner the popular science writer. The annotations are especially helpful for showing the original, now largely unknown, verses that Caroll's were making fun of. ( )

Absolutely perfect for the shelves of any and all Alice in Wonderland fans! This annotated guide provides a number of helpful and insightful descriptions, captions and annotations throughout the two book Alice series included here, plenty of common and even more uncommon facts. It digs out and up a lot of historical background and context, so I really enjoyed that. It almost seems biographical in a way. ( )

La presente edición es, sin lugar a dudas, la más importante realizada hasta la fecha, pues a las dos obras maestras de L. Carroll -y a las no menos magistrales ilustraciones de Tenniel- han venido a unirse las notas y comentarios de Martin Gardner. El autor de esta edición anotada, columnista de "Scientific American" durante más de veinte años, matemático y ensayista original, era quizá, por su profesión y aficiones, la persona más apropiada para realizar esta labor, arrojando nueva y definitiva luz sobre un texto complicado pero delicioso. No en vano, Charles Dodgson (esto es, L. Carroll) fue también profesor de Lógica y Matemáticas, como el anotador, dejando en sus libros la huella inequívoca de su sutilísimo humor, entretejido de constantes combinaciones y variables imprevistas. A la calidad de los textos, y al meticuloso cuidado con el que ha realizado su traducción Francisco Torres Oliver, viene por último a unirse la magnífica presentación de los textos e ilustraciones. Creemos que el conjunto constituye por todo ello una edición auténticamente imprescindible.