What do you think?
Rate this book
Su Doku for Dummies
Su Doku For Dummies offers more puzzles than any other book available. This pocket-sized guide to the biggest craze for Summer 2005 features: * Easy to follow illustrated instructions * Guidance on how to play the game and different strategies to tackle the puzzles * 240 addictive new puzzles from basic to fiendish This guide is perfect for newcomers to Su Doku as well as experienced Su Doku players looking to improve their game and addicts who just can't get enough new puzzles!!! Su Doku (or Sudoku) has been dubbed the Rubik's Cube of the 21st century, it’s a cryptic and highly addictive puzzle that involves inserting numbers in a 9x9 grid and making sure that every row and every column and every 3x3 box within the bigger grid contains all the digits from one to nine. All it takes is the ability to identify the numerals 1-9, a sense for logic, a methodical cast of mind and a large measure of application to boot. You can get better and quicker, if you put your mind to it. And there is no predicting who will excel: you can be a disaster at maths and a whiz at Su Doku!
336 pages, Paperback
First published July 11, 2005
7 people are currently reading
218 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
March 19, 2009
This book shocked me. First of all, it's little. Fits in my hand little, and I do not have large hands. Sure, I could slip it in my purse but I usually have some other book in there and, as Richard pointed out, I could just get some sudoku to go whenever I'm jonesing for it with my phone or ipod.
The other shocking thing as I flipped through is that it's mostly puzzles. I expected more instruction or at least helpful hints. There's maybe twenty-five pages (and remember: these are tiny pages) of various strategies for solving the puzzles. So I bought myself a pretentious sounding coffee-like drink and sat down to read.
And you know what? I could have written this book. Once upon a time I was dead set against sudoku. I'm a word girl. I do crosswords and word searches and those ones where you have to make as many words as you can given a specific set of letters. Numbers are not my friends. And then one night a friend said "Here. Look.", sat next to me with the newspaper and a pencil, and showed me. By the time he came back I'd done several days worth of puzzles and had figured out most of the strategies covered in this book on my own.
I put Su Doku for Dummies back on the shelf, preferring to fall asleep with Lady Chatterley's Lover instead.
The other shocking thing as I flipped through is that it's mostly puzzles. I expected more instruction or at least helpful hints. There's maybe twenty-five pages (and remember: these are tiny pages) of various strategies for solving the puzzles. So I bought myself a pretentious sounding coffee-like drink and sat down to read.
And you know what? I could have written this book. Once upon a time I was dead set against sudoku. I'm a word girl. I do crosswords and word searches and those ones where you have to make as many words as you can given a specific set of letters. Numbers are not my friends. And then one night a friend said "Here. Look.", sat next to me with the newspaper and a pencil, and showed me. By the time he came back I'd done several days worth of puzzles and had figured out most of the strategies covered in this book on my own.
I put Su Doku for Dummies back on the shelf, preferring to fall asleep with Lady Chatterley's Lover instead.
August 9, 2022
This book literally kept me from completely losing my sanity.
April 5, 2026
That's not how I've ever done it, but it must be a better way.
November 2, 2016
It should be stated at the outset that this is not a book that provides a lot to read. Barely 20 pages of this book contain text for reading, and the vast majority of this book consists of either Sudoku puzzles or the solutions to said puzzles. The text that is included provides a basic set of somewhat simple strategies that will help readers handle almost any puzzle, so long as they are applied consistently. As someone who is fond of such puzzles, and enjoys logic games, this book was useful despite not having a great deal of content. To be sure, I would have wanted more, but that which was included was sufficient to provide information of great value and also what most people would want the most in order to understand how to play Sudoku better, and that is puzzles to work with. The authors of the book apparently are of the belief that the best way to learn more about Sudoku is not to read about it but rather to practice it, and so this book is definitely something that can be considered a practice book far more than is typical for a book of this genre [1].
So, given that this book is made up almost entirely of puzzles, is this book worthwhile? Yes. If you are reading a book like this, you probably enjoy the subject material and have some sort of app on your phone or enjoy going to websites for the game or enjoying it in newspapers. Either you do this already, or you are at least open to the idea from having seen the term. There are a few other books in the series that may be worth reviewing and that may contain a lot more puzzles and perhaps more of the context that would make it even more interesting. After all, this book is a little bit thin on the origins, although it gives the story of why it came out of nowhere to be such a success, and was likely a very quick fix to capture the initial buzz, which can be understood by the fact that its title says in two words what quickly became combined in one word. So this book focuses on what is going to bring the interest and the attention, and that is the game itself. For the most part, this is a wise choice and likely a successful one.
This book, though, contains an unexpected sting that reminds me of how the awkwardness of my life is impossible to escape. After all, Sudoku is a Japanese type of puzzle based on mathematics, and it is worthwhile to know what exactly this game was called in Japan. Translated from the Japanese, the game means something like "single number" or "bachelor number." The full Japanese title of the game is Suji wa dikushin ni kagiru, which means something like "numbers are limited to bachelors." While the authors of the book did not get this, it is something that is easy to understand, in that only one number can exist in every row, column, and 3 x 3 block. The game is all about finding the solitary place where each number fits by using logic. Even in math puzzles I cannot help but be reminded of my singlehood, alas.
[1] See, for example:
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
So, given that this book is made up almost entirely of puzzles, is this book worthwhile? Yes. If you are reading a book like this, you probably enjoy the subject material and have some sort of app on your phone or enjoy going to websites for the game or enjoying it in newspapers. Either you do this already, or you are at least open to the idea from having seen the term. There are a few other books in the series that may be worth reviewing and that may contain a lot more puzzles and perhaps more of the context that would make it even more interesting. After all, this book is a little bit thin on the origins, although it gives the story of why it came out of nowhere to be such a success, and was likely a very quick fix to capture the initial buzz, which can be understood by the fact that its title says in two words what quickly became combined in one word. So this book focuses on what is going to bring the interest and the attention, and that is the game itself. For the most part, this is a wise choice and likely a successful one.
This book, though, contains an unexpected sting that reminds me of how the awkwardness of my life is impossible to escape. After all, Sudoku is a Japanese type of puzzle based on mathematics, and it is worthwhile to know what exactly this game was called in Japan. Translated from the Japanese, the game means something like "single number" or "bachelor number." The full Japanese title of the game is Suji wa dikushin ni kagiru, which means something like "numbers are limited to bachelors." While the authors of the book did not get this, it is something that is easy to understand, in that only one number can exist in every row, column, and 3 x 3 block. The game is all about finding the solitary place where each number fits by using logic. Even in math puzzles I cannot help but be reminded of my singlehood, alas.
[1] See, for example:
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
July 5, 2007
a little goes a long way
March 31, 2009
Great explanation of how to figure Sudoku puzzles out - packed full of Sudokus from very easy to very difficult! Awesome book to have on your coffee table, to pick up and conquer whenever you wish!
Read
December 21, 2009I still love this!!!!
January 10, 2008
This was my first sudoku book and now I'm addicted! I need help!
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews