I loved the puzzle books, even though I wasn't very good at the puzzles. The titbit about his wife is this story (https://magazine.uchicago.edu/9506/June95BOBPr

I loved the puzzle books, even though I wasn't very good at the puzzles. The titbit about his wife is this story (https://magazine.uchicago.edu/9506/June95BOBProfiles.html https://magazine.uchicago.edu/9506/June95BOBProfiles.html, NYT left out the actual puzzle) > Smullyan admits the following puzzle might have come in handy had he designed it before meeting his wife. > "I'll make a statement. If the statement is true, you give me your autograph. It doesn't have to be on a check, it can be on a blank piece of paper. If the statement is false, you don't give me your autograph," Smullyan sets up the puzzle. "Well, my statement is, `You will give me neither your autograph nor a kiss.' And his puzzles always came with variations, like this (http://blog.tanyakhovanova.com/2010/05/raymond-smullyans-magic-trick/ http://blog.tanyakhovanova.com/2010/05/raymond-smullyans-mag...): > Afterwards, Raymond Smullyan joined me in the elevator. “Do you want to see a magic trick?” he asked. “I bet I can kiss you without touching you.” I was caught off guard. At that moment I believed anything was possible. I agreed to the bet. > He asked me to close my eyes, kissed me on the cheek and laughed, “I lost.” And this bit from the preface to The Lady or the Tiger aptly summarizes most people's attitude towards maths: > Before he called the boy to the phone, the father said to me in soft conspiratorial tones: "He is reading your book and loves it! But when you speak to him, don't let him know that what he is doing is math, because he hates math! If he had any idea that this is really math, he would stop reading the book immediately!"