No comments about Fiendishly Difficult Math Puzzles.

3 comments about Nathan Levy's Stories With Holes (Volume VIII).

1. It is a very neat book. If you like puzzles, chances are, you will enjoy this book. However, it is good for two or more people to read a certain story (with one person who knows the answer and the other people ask ?s and try to guess the answer). It has stories such as 'someone was murdered in a car with a gun. However, there is no trace of a gun in the car, and all the windows and doors were closed during the murder. How could this be? ' Answer: the car was a convertible



2. I bought this for use with my students. There are 20 puzzles and I didn't read all of them. I scanned 10 and imagined attempting these with my 8th graders. The stories or riddles are so broad that I'm not sure the kids would be able to narrow their ideas to even get close to the answer. Actually, adults would have the same difficulty b/c the answers are pretty odd in many cases. (Not the kind of odd that makes you think, "Oh, how clever.")



3. I have used this book with my students. It is a wonderful way to develop good questioning techniques to solve problems. Students may ask me "yes-or-no answer" questions to narrow down the field of possible scenarios. It is gratifying to see them develop better and better questioning as the year progresses. It also makes students think "outside the box". They must think critically, creatively and with flexibility to solve the mystery of the story. My students BEG me to read more of these. This whole series is GREAT!!!

1 comments about Mensa All-Color Puzzle Book 2: Challenge your mind with over 400 full color puzzles.

1. This book is laid out beautifully and contains over three hundred full-color brain benders. It follows in the Mensa tradition of difficult yet visually pleasing puzzlers. A great choice.

3 comments about Tangram Magnetic Puzzle-a-Day: 2008 Day-to-Day Calendar.

1. 
   A long time before the 15-Puzzle,the Rubik's Cube or any other puzzle you've seen before,there was the Tangram Puzzle to challenge the millions.The Tangram Puzzle is beautifully described in all its different forms along with its history,and along with nearly 1800 puzzles for you to enjoy,in "the Tangram Book" by Jerry Slocum and Jacob Botermans.It is,without any doubt,the difinitive book on this puzzle.I wrote a review on it on January 6,2004.
   Although I have many different Tangram Puzzles,and there have been many hundreds of them sold over the years,I was very impressed with this one and just had to add it to my collection.
   This one is one of those "boxed" calendars that appear late in the year for the Christmas gift season.
   There was a lot of creative imagination used to take this ancient puzzle and adapt it to a calendar.Unlike most calendars of this type,where the pages are torn off and thrown away;here the pages are all separate.The Tangram pieces themselves,are made of a rubber like material with magnetic backing. There is a magnetic board included and you put a page(puzzle) on it and the pieces are held in place.This would be very useful if doing the puzzles in a car,for example;or even while horseback riding,it that's your thing.
   Each day has a separate page and the puzzle is the same size as the Tangram pieces,;this is very convenient.The same page shows the solution of the previous days puzzle;also very convenient.Thursdays give you an extra challenge with 4 puzzles instead of one,along with the solutions of the previous Thursday's puzzle.These Thursday puzzles are much smaller and I found it simpler to use a pencil to solve them.
   These puzzles come in an ingenious ,hinged, substantial box,with an opening to keep the Tangram pieces.It's easy to keep the puzzles in order and you simply put them back to solve again.This is certainly not an item you will discard once you finish the puzzle.In all there are over 500 puzzles to solve.
   This imaginative packageing makes it simple to create a multi- person game. If you have a couple of other sets of Tangram pieces ( you can even make cardboard ones),you can pass around the pages and have contests to see who can solve them the fastest.
   This is a wonderfully packaged game ,that everyone in the family from young to the older to enjoy alone or with others.



2. This year I ordered 3 of the tangram puzzle calendars to give out as gifts. I had one last year, and the item itself is really a lot of fun and I highly recommend it.
   
   The calendars come in a cardboard frame that holds the individual daily puzzle pages.
   
   Unfortunately, when I opened the box, I found that two of the three calendars' cardboard frames were quite damaged. There was clearly insufficient packaging materials inside the box. I can't blame the post office because there wasn't any damage to the shipping boxes. They calendars had just banged around inside the box from amazon on their travels.
   
   I imagine that amazon might have helped me out with had I chosen to return the items, but I had selected them as gifts and didn't have time to go through the hassles of returning them.
   
   In short - it is a great item, but amazon did not ship it well.



3. I purchased this puzzle to do each morning when I got into work. This plus coffee really jumpstarts my brain. This is despite of the fact the daily puzzle does get easier as you get more experience visualizing the pieces, but its still a welcome challenge early in the day.
   
   I highly recommend it!

No comments about Tanglers: Cooperatiave problem-solving puzzles.

No comments about Will Shortz Presents Simply Sinister Sudoku: 200 Hard Puzzles.

No comments about University Challenge Quiz Book.

No comments about World's greatest puzzles (Pyramid Books).

No comments about The Greedy Gourmet (Armchair Detectives (Games)).

No comments about Game Theory and Applications (Game Theory & Applications).