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Dictionary of Riddles by Mark Bryant
Brings together 1500 classic and modern riddles, ranging from down-to-earth medieval jokes, to "picture riddles" and elaborate puzzles by philosophers. Arranged alphabetically by source, the work includes a detailed historical introduction. Answers are provided at the back of the book.
Mass Market Paperback
First published September 1, 1990
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June 14, 2015
Why did every ancient culture have such a thing as a riddle? It's not a joke, exactly; it's more like a crossword puzzle clue, or a belabored pun. Yet they were deadly serious in many stories from around the world. In the 1700-1800s in Europe it was a parlor game, like charades or 20 questions. I have been thinking about analogies as a key to how we think lately, so my mind runs in that direction.
Well, this book hardly answers any of those kinds of questions, but it does provide thousands of examples of riddles from many different sources. Having read a lot of them, they are not hard to come up with on your own, with little effort:
My first is on the very top
My second goes and never stops.
The answer is "headline."
There are some other rules that most of them fulfill. A good riddle presents a consistent picture of something monstrous, or expresses apparent contradictions to seem impossible.
Well, this book hardly answers any of those kinds of questions, but it does provide thousands of examples of riddles from many different sources. Having read a lot of them, they are not hard to come up with on your own, with little effort:
My first is on the very top
My second goes and never stops.
The answer is "headline."
There are some other rules that most of them fulfill. A good riddle presents a consistent picture of something monstrous, or expresses apparent contradictions to seem impossible.
Displaying 1 of 1 review