Why Martin Gardner is no longer popular?

He's a decade deceased, so that's probably not helping his popularity...

But I'd argue he is still popular, though the very nature of what "popularity" means has changed even since he passed, so I don't know honestly how to really even address the comparison to modern "YouTube" stars.

Here's a list of the SciAm articles, which I assume were the gateway to his books -

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Martin_Gardner_Mathema...

One of the most iconic, John Conway's game of life wouldn't be an article today, it'd be swamped by many authors quickly. But many articles still seem unique. Can the hard slogs survive when the icing is gone?

Really I think it's just down to most kids don't get stuck in a library or at home with only SciAm to read anymore.

That sort of information flow is dead. It's pull not push, which Martin Gardner's format doesn't fit. Pull is bit sized.

Equally kids now can read peer review straight from the source and also peoples criticism, SciAm is no longer the gatekeeper, you lose the recreation for better science.

Well, first I'd want to confirm or not the assumption in the question: Isn't he? Popular compared with when? etc.

Well, I picked up the Colossal Book of Mathematics[1] by him after hearing about it and I'm having a lot of fun with it myself (it's just a bunch of really interesting math topics written really well, that are sparking my game designer brain), but yeah, he's not as discoverable today, in part because he's no longer living and people consume things a bit differently today.

But someone could help promote his work again, by taking his articles and making Youtube videos of them, and give credit to him and urge people to check out his articles and books.

[1]: https://www.amazon.com/Colossal-Book-Mathematics-Paradoxes-P...

Because he doesn't have a youtube channel (though you can hardly blame him...)

Recreational mathematics is featured a lot on youtube. Channels like stand up maths. Some of the topics Martin Gardner wrote about are being covered again in this new medium.

I have no idea what materials there are today for math-interested kids. Is his stuff not used anymore?

OT: I have a copy of The Annotated Alice; I revisit it every couple of years. It's not maths, although Charles Dodgson was a mathematician. Gardner's marginalia bring the books to life.

Don't have an answer to your question, but thanks to your post now I know a lot about Martin Gardner.

Locking his work behind a paywall doesn't help. Thank you Scientific American.