wonder7 2008-01-03

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

I bought this book because I like math and puzzles, and a friend who teaches middle school math had mentioned that she and her class were having fun going through the puzzles. I really enjoyed the puzzles in this book, most of which are math or number oriented, but some of which are more like word riddles. The answers and thought processes used are in the back of the book, although I swear a couple are wrong! I know this sounds a little odd, but doing the puzzles at night was a great help a few nights with insomnia (so I could think through a logic or math problem in my head until I fell asleep, rather than let my mind wander to more stessful life events...)

Katie Entropy 2005-08-30

4 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

This book, by a well-known poser of puzzles, sets out of the order of a thousand logic puzzles in a format loosely styled upon the presentation of Scheherazade, but in a somewhat less entrancing way. The problem with logic is that there is just so much of it about. Perhaps the axiom 'less is more' might have been applied and some judicious excision of the more mechanical or repetitious examples been performed. The jewels are lost amongst the glass beads. Obviously by its nature mathematical logic eschews value judgements, but in the present case this seems to have been taken rather too literally.

Adam S 2004-08-31

7 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

This book is a good source of riddles, old and new. Unfortunately, a lot of the riddles are just basic algebra problems... and that's not very fun. But if you skip (or quickly work out) the silly algebra riddles, there are still a lot of other interesting riddles. And also there's a neat way to prove Gauss's summing rule in this book.

Also, I was looking for an errata for this book, but I couldn't find one, so I will just mention here that the answer to number 71 is incorrect. But, if you just remove the last sentence from the answer, then it is right.

Isaac Brooks 2004-07-27

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

This is probably the best book on logic puzzles ever written (aside from other Smullyan books, that is). It is witty, challenging, and has problems of all kinds. The first half is framed as a continuation to the Arabian Nights, with ingenious and original puzzles (aside from the occasional oldy snuck in) given an Arabian touch.
However, after those brilliant puzzles comes the greatest part of the book. The second half is a collection of puzzles, paradoxes, and even has a couple of chapters on coercive logic, invented by Raymond Smullyan himself.
I reccomend this book to any logic buff, or indeed to anyone who's ever enjoyed a logic puzzle. And if you don't fall into either category, then you need this book all the more.

Flutingfrenzy 2001-02-02

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

Seeing my frustration at being thoroughly unchallenged in logic in my math class at school, my mom bought me this book. I owe her one. There are coercive logic puzzles, easy but sneaky riddles, and math games. There are liar/truthteller problems to keep you guessing for hours. That said, this is also a great book to read on a plane. It is so complete, you will never need another brainteaser book. That is, until you memorize all the questions.