The Ultimate Book of Puzzles, Mathematical Diversions, and Brainteasers

by Erwin Brecher

Long-time puzzle buffs have yearned for a one-volume collection of the best brain-twisters ever devised. Here are 360 carefully constructed exercises that use words, numbers, and diagrams to test logic, numeracy geometry, physics, intuition, common sense, and imagination.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312141432
• ISBN13: 9780312141431
• Release Date: January 1996
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Length: 270 Pages
• Weight: 1.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.5" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

excellent collection of diverse brainteasers

Like the other reviewers I found this to be one of the best collections of brainteasers I've come across, both for the variety of puzzles & the author's very good choice of them. It is roughly similar, in the nature of the puzzles & level of difficulty, to e.g. Martin Gardner's "Entertaining Mathematical Puzzles", but this is a much larger collection, & it contains many puzzles of types that Gardner's volume doesn't. There are 355 puzzles in all. The selection criteria are spelled out in a preface, & I can't disagree with them, e.g. he has avoided trick questions; he has excluded puzzles like magic squares & anagrams where finding the solution tends to be "mechanical" or trial-and-error; he tends to avoid puzzles that involve "tedious reliance on algebraic questions". As promised the puzzles are very entertaining & satisfying. The book is, sensibly, divided up among different types of puzzles. Geometry-type puzzles (not my favorite ...) make up puzzle numbers 1~55. "Physics" puzzles are 56~85. (Example: Taking account of gravitation attraction, if all space were full of water except for just two air bubbles, would the bubbles move apart, towards each other, or not at all?) "Strange Situations", puzzle numbers 99~133, are of the lateral thinking variety. (E.g. a man and son are in a car crash, the man dies, his son survives, they take him to the hospital, but the surgeon says "I can't operate, he's my son"--how to explain this.) "General Puzzles" is the largest group, numbers 134~320, & maybe a few examples will give a sense of them: "Is the number of people in the world who have shaken hands with an odd number of people odd or even?" "How is it possible for Jim to stand behind George and George to stand behind Jim at the same time?" "If there are more trees than there are leaves on any one tree, then there exist at least two trees with the same number of leaves--True or false?" "What is unique about the number 8,549,176,320?" "How far from the center of the Earth would you have to be to see 1/3 of the planet's surface?" There is also section of harder puzzles requiring proofs, 337~355--"not for the faint-hearted" (these ones remind me of Stephen Barr's dang hard brainteasers). In between are some of the family relations-type puzzles (e.g. is it possible for your grandfather to be younger than your father?), a few chess problems, & some other types. So far I've worked at around 120 or 130 of the puzzles (solved some ....). Only a few of them have been too easy, and most have been quite interesting and challenging, and some impossible. I confess I'm not crazy about some of the numerical ones (e.g. ones involving relative speeds), but if you're into brainteasers at all you're bound to find a lot of great stuff here. The solutions are explained in the back of the book, and the presentation of the puzzles and solutions is lucid throughout. I appreciate the fact that Brecher doesn't try to embellish the puzzles but states them si

Excellent puzzle book

The best puzzle book I've come across. The variety and complexity of the puzzles will keep puzzle fans happily occupied for quite some time. Some of these puzzles, I'm happy to say, may take me some number of years to chew on before I will check my answer in the back.

Excellent compendium of mathematics and logic puzzles!

This is one of the best puzzle collections I've come across in the past 10 years. Chock full of old chestnuts as well as original creations by the author, this book is indeed a valuable addition to any puzzle library. With its 355 puzzles this book is a great buy.