5 comments about Games Magazine Presents Paint by Numbers (The Unique Geometric Logic Puzzles for Ages 14 to Adult).

1. I just recently became interested in Paint by Numbers puzzles and one of my professors recommended Games Magazine. This book is helpful because it explains how to solve a Paint by Numbers puzzles. You can start off with simple puzzles and work your way up to harder puzzles in the book. The only complaint I have is that it would be easier to work on the puzzles if it were spiral-bound.



2. This book is just a slapdash reprinting of Japanese book. The images in half the puzzles are of Japanese characters and references that most Americans would be unfamiliar with. Also, there are no special puzzles, such as the ones where you'd use two different colors of ink, for example.



3. Like Games magazine, there are hours of pleasure to be found in doing these puzzles. If you are a sudoku fan, try these art/logic puzzles.



4. I worked four copies of this book before I was aware of other books of this type. I really enjoyed the art work in this book.



5. I bought this book from the advertisement in Games magazine (the best). I am a huge fan of paint by numbers. I've completed every single one Games magazine has ever published (and most of World of Puzzles) for the last 2 decades. I was disapointed for 3 reasons: 1) the squares are too big. This takes way too much lead. This may also have something to do with the paper. 2) Most pictures are un-interesting. They are choppy (also due to the big squares), and many are symbols from Japan and are unfamiliar to an American. 3) Several are impossible to decipher after they're solved; I had to look up the solution just for the title to tell what the heck I was looking at. The bigger ones are much better, but you have to go through 85 of them before you get to them.

5 comments about Cryptograms to Keep You Sharp.

1. This is the perfect book for cryptogram lovers. You can use none or up to 3 hints for each puzzle. Spiral bound makes it easy to use also.



2. This book is what I was looking for. Too many cryptograms book have 'too small type font' and are impossible to do. This one is good :)



3. I am an huge cryptogram fan. This book is great. The only nitpick I have is that the answers are printed one after the other, so you might wind up seeing the next quote if you go to check your answer. I love the spiral binding, and the fact that it is printed on thick white paper. I'm usually frustrated with cryptogram books because the paper is cheap and tears when you inevitably have to erase.



4. I am really enjoying the cryptograms in "Cryptograms to Keep You Sharp". I love the meaningful quotes, and the font size is perfect! The good quality paper and sprial binding are a big plus as well.
   
   Also, the hints are arranged in the beginning of the book, so you don't have to worry about having a wandering eye, and seeing the full solution when you only wanted a hint.
   
   Overall, I would highly recommend this book to both the cryptogram "pro" & "novice" alike - it's a great one!



5. This is a nice collection of cryptograms, mostly "quote-type". It has a few nice features: it is spiral-bound and has "hints" to help if you get stuck. Some of the letter substitutions, hints and styles become a bit too familiar (and easy). But this book is great to relax and enjoy a moderate challenge.

5 comments about Design Your Own Coat of Arms: An Introduction to Heraldry.

1. This book provides a very elementary introduction to Heraldry. The basic layout of a Coat of Arms is discussed, including a very brief history, along with the rules of placement and description for the major elements. The author also includes some discussion of the prevailing Heraldry of countries around the world, including medieval countries. The appendixes include elements for the user to trace or imitate when creating their own Coat of Arms. Lastly there is some contact information for organizations involved with Heraldry.
   
   The book lacks depth. It provides nothing resembling an exhaustive list of elements; only a few basic forms and styles are covered. Further there is nil discussion concerning the meaning of the elements presented. The most a reader can learn is that crowns and lions rampant are symbols of Royalty, and some of that we have to infer. The work feels directed to early middle school children and should probably be marked as Young Reader.



2. In this book there is more historical information, and descriptions. Great for older children that can draw well.



3. Great book for beginner Heralds!!!



4. Perfect resource guide for my unit on the Middle Ages. Very quick shipment and in perfect condition. Great job!



5. a very good book, as it explains heradlry terms, and makes it simple to create your own device.
   
   pity amazon so hard to deal with if not in america

No comments about Exceptional Acrostics to Keep You Sharp (AARP).

5 comments about Color Sudoku.

1. I loved this book! If you like color, this one is for you! I haven't found anything else like this one. Can't wait until another is available!



2. I have been getting a bit bored of sudoku, so when my cousin got me this book for Christmas, I couldn't wait to get started!
   The new rules and twists that are in this book are a lot of fun! The different difficulty levels and different rules keep it interesting.
   I highly recommend this book to any fan of sudoku!



3. If you have become bored with regular Sudoku, then try this book. One must use a different type of thinking in order to solve the puzzles. Even some of the "easy" ones will drive you to throw your pencil against the wall. Carry an eraser with you constantly. Great puzzle book.



4. The colored squares make it difficult for the user to enter and read candidate numbers



5. I am a huge sudoku player and absolutely loved this book. It had a wonderful variety of puzzles that ranged from easy to extremely challenging. I would absolutely reccomend this book to anyone that loves the game and is looking for a challenge.

5 comments about The Mensa Genius Quiz-a-day Book.

1. I've belonged to a couple of high-IQ societies, including Mensa, in the past, and once talked to Dr. Salny over the phone about IQ equivalents for the MAT, or Miller Analogies test, which was the one I qualified on for Mensa. Dr. Salny, who was at the University of New Jersey at Rutgers the time, was very helpful in that regard and I wanted to mention that.
   
   This is a great collection of puzzles put together by Dr. Salny to help you keep your mental muscles tuned up, whether you're a Mensa member or not. In fact, one of the things we've learned about the brain over the last 50 years is that in many ways the brain is truly like a muscle--use it or lose it.
   
   I was a grad student in the brain sciences and also formally studied the IQ and psychometrics area for a while, and I had some comments about the problems with testing high IQs that I thought I'd post here, especially on the problem of testing very high IQs above 150 or 160, particularly for adults.
   
   Various writers, researchers, and members of other high IQ societies have attempted to solve this problem by constructing their own tests and standardizing them. They also claim to be able to standardize these high-end IQ tests using various special procedures and statistics. However, the problem of standardization for these sorts of tests has really never been resolved very well. Hence, many claims of IQ's that high are really just that--claims. That isn't to say that people who score high on things like the Mega test or the Langdon LAIT and so on might not have IQ's of 180, just the reliability and accuracy of such scores isn't that great.
   
   The other problem is that the human brain is quite complex and we really don't know how to adequately test its capabilities except in the crudest sense. Most IQ tests examine a half dozen factors at most (although the well-known DAT, the Differential Aptitude Test, looked at 9 factors, but then it was technically an aptitude test and not an IQ test) and there are actually dozens or perhaps hundreds of factors involved. The eminent cognitive psychologist and psychometrician, J.P Guilford's Structure of Intellect model postulated 120 different types of intelligence (most if not all of which I find more convincing than the more standard factor models).
   
   Another problem is the factor subtests still correlate highly with each other; for example, the typical verbal subtest correlates at the .75 level with the math subtest, although the spatial ability tests seem purer. A .75 "r" or correlation means that half the variance in one test is accounted for by the variance of the other (since the variance is the correlation coefficient squared). Hence, the factor subtests aren't very "pure," as they say, and correlate too highly with verbal skills which is too narrow a subset of skills and also is likely the most socio-economically influenced.
   
   That having been said, ironically, the most egregious criticism of IQ tests is that you can show that the most complex IQ test known is only about 10-15% more accurate in predicting, say, college grades, than a 40 item, 20-30 minute vocabulary test.
   
   And finally, for the coup de grace, the most famous IQ study of all time, the Lewis Terman study at Stanford in the last century, tested tens of thousands of kids and then followed 1400 of them with IQ's of 140 and over throughout their lives. A couple of dozen were as high as 180. Although a distinguished group in later life in that many of their achievements were impressive, there were no Nobel Laureates in the group. In fact, they passed over two of them--Luis Alvarez and William Shockley--who didn't test high enough to be included, both of whom later won the Nobel Prize in physics. Oops.
   
   The second coup de grace is that research has shown that further IQ points above 120 is not as important as good social intelligence in ensuring success in life. And an IQ of 120 is enough to do anything--with few exceptions-- such as being a physicist or mathematician. After all, James Watson, co-discoverer of the DNA helix and Nobel Laureate, only had an IQ of 118. And in another classic study by Getzels and Jackson, children who were high on tests of creativity with average IQs of 120 had grades as high as those less creative with average IQs of 140.
   
   Another thing you can see right away from visiting a few of these high-IQ society web pages and reading the discussions there, is that many of these people (most of them are men) are obsessed with the IQ business and about which test is the best, who has the highest IQ, and who gets to belong to the most exclusive societies. This produced an odd competitive race as various people attempted to form ever more rarified and exclusive and cliquish groups. There have been literally dozens of these, but most have never gone anywhere and died out after a few years, or never even got off the ground.
   
   They also get into various inter-society and internecine debates, as I said, about who gets to belong to which high-IQ society on the basis of which test, each one claiming their test is the best, when, as I said, there really isn't any way to validate them that accurately. They've even gone, in one case, to the trouble of suing each other about the issue of the legitimacy of the testings, since few of these people are licensed psychologists. It really is a tempest in a teapot and they should go get a life. The whole thing would be funny were it not for the fact that they take the whole thing so seriously.
   
   Of course, to some extent this is the pot calling the kettle black since I have belonged to a couple of these societies too in the past, but I also see the silliness of it all, not to mention, as I said, that it seems that for the vast majority of these people this is the only real distinction they seem to have.



2. I bought this book prior to my taking the aptitude test that got me into Mensa. It was both fun and helpful and I at least felt a little smarter coming out the other end. I would recommend this book to anyone contemplating taking any similar test or just for a fun and challenging read. I sent this and a couple of other Mensa books to my niece and nephew. It went over pretty good with everyone in the family.



3. My husband and I got this book to do together. We enjoy solving the quizzes and finding out the percentage of Mensans who got them correct. We gave it 4 stars because we think there are too many word puzzles. We were hoping for more number puzzles.



4. I have purchased several of the Mensa books. There is a challenge to outwit the Mensa and I offer it to my friends on occasion in the form of a game.



5. "The Mensa Genius Quiz-A-Day Book" contains 366 puzzles (including one for leap years). The puzzles cover a wide variety including cryptograms, picture puzzles, math puzzles, riddles, palindromes, Tom Swifties, and more. The book is divided into months and at the start of each month there is a description of how the month got its name and some other interesting facts about the month. The answers are at the back of the book and each answer tells what percentage of Mensa members got the right answer for that particular puzzle.
   
   "The Mensa Genius Quiz-A-Day Book" is a good book for people who want to keep their mind active by doing at least one puzzle a day. The puzzles are varied in such a way that if you find a puzzle tough one day, the puzzle the next day won't seem as hard. My favorite puzzles are the word puzzles (palindromes, anagrams, riddles, mini-mysteries, etc.) while I'm not too fond of or particularly good at the math puzzles. For the most part, the book is evenly divided between the types of puzzles, but there are a few times when it seems like there are several of the same type of puzzle in a row. Although the book says Mensa, you don't have to be a Mensa member to do the puzzles (I'm not). The answer section gives a detailed explanation of each answer, which ultimately helps you solve similar types of puzzles. By the end of the book you should be able to solve or at least have an understanding of how each puzzle works.
   
   "The Mensa Genius Quiz-A-Day Book" is hours of challenging fun for everyone.

2 comments about Pirate Treasure Mazes.

1. My son lves mazes. I bought this for him as a Christmas gift. There were some hard ones in there for him but he loved the book.



2. Nice book. Good pictures and 'story' on each page. I thought it was nice to search for the treasure in steps and read the story as you finish each maze. My 5 year old son loves everything pirates so I ordered this for him however the mazes were a bit difficult for him but he liked the story and pictures. Great for a kid a bit older.

3 comments about Grand Master Ultimate Sudoku.

1. This is simply another great collection of sudoku puzzles. This one will make a great holiday gift as it was very recently released and it's likely that your favorite puzzler will not yet own it.
   
   Of special interest are the super-sudoku puzzles in this book, they're definitely not for a coffee break: you'd better have a good block of time available to work them out!



2. I bought this as a gift, so cannot give a fair review as it is going to someone else.



3. This book is a great mind challenge. You will lose track of time working on these puzzles.

2 comments about The Kakuro Challenge 1.

1. This book presents us with a graded series of kakuro challenges.
   
   The introduction is quite clear on strategy, although the Divide and Conquer section has a few paragraphs that hopefully will be corrected in later editions. However, Chisolm looks only at the case where a single digit has been discovered. As with Sudoku, a very useful tactic focuses on discovering pairs of cells that must choose from the same two candidates. In Kakuro one may sum the two choices and subtract from the block total to give information about the other cells. Similarly for three cells with three candidates, etc.
   
   The challenges are presented in four levels of difficulty. The first level problems are presented on an 8 by 8 grid, the longest blocks are of length 5. The second level grids are 10 by 10. The third level are on a 10 by 12 grid, with some blocks of length 6. The fourth level are also on 10 by 12 grids, with a few length 7 blocks.
   
   There are no length 8 or length 9 blocks.
   
   It is possible to do the first level in ink, without having to record intermediate guesses. The proper choices are pretty much locally determined by the situation in blocks not more than two or three cells away. This is not true of later levels, in which some choices require resolution of situations at more distant cells. A good pencil and eraser is essential.
   
   I worked through all 201 puzzles and found the book to be effective in acquiring improved facility.



2. There are various levels of difficulty in the book and the malicious ones are really malicious (but fun!). I don't like things to be labeled hard to find out they really aren't - that is not the case here - you need to work at them. I have bought two copies of this book and gave one to my brother-in-law.

No comments about The Amazing Life Picture Puzzle Page-A-Day Calendar 2009 (Page a Day Fun & Games Calendr).