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Brainstrains Power Puzzles
They're challenging, baffling, and wildly entertaining: here are 240 colorful, mind-boggling puzzles of every kind to sharpen anyone's thinking skills! Vivid optical illusions fool and tease the eye: try to find both a young girl and her grandmother in what seems to be a picture of only one woman. Or test those smarts on a different type of visual problem by figuring out which of six pieces isn't needed to make a cube. Sneaky lateral thinking puzzles are so tricky that there are extra clues to help: look at them first and then solve the riddle of why a tourist in London wouldn't ride the escalator in the subway station--even though he wanted to. It takes really creative reasoning to solve clever logic conundrums, including mathematical enigmas from the "addled arithmetician" and mini-mysteries to delight the armchair detective. And lots more stimulating fun!
- GenresPuzzlesNonfiction
352 pages, Paperback
First published December 12, 2002
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23 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 4, 2015
This book is retarded.
Here's a sample of the idiotic types of puzzles in this book. Put your thinking cap on. This is from the "Sneaky Lateral Thinking Puzzles" section. Ready?
"A farmer has two pigs that are identical twins from the same litter. However, when he sells them he gets 100 times more for one than the other. Why?"
That's it.
I'm sure if you take a minute you can think of a half-dozen plausible reasons. They're all wrong. Here's the right answer:
"This happened in France. One pig was sold for bacon. The other had been painstakingly trained to sniff out truffles and was, therefore, very valuable."
I've posed this question to others and they feel the same way I do about it. There isn't enough information in the question to clue you in as to what the correct response might be. It's ridiculous.
I'll share another one that has an OBVIOUS correct answer that every adult I've asked has given, whereas kids give a huge variety of entertainingly silly but erroneous responses to.
"Four people were playing cards. One played a card and another player immediately jumped up and started to take her clothes off. Why?"
They're playing Strip Poker, right? Bzzt. Wrong, dumbass.
Here's what you were SUPPOSED to say:
"When one player went to play a card, she knocked over a mug. The hot drink poured over the other player, who immediately jumped up and started to take her clothes off."
If you're shaking your head, trust me when I tell you those are among the least moronic bits in this book and that I want to save you from breaking your own neck as you throw it violently from side to side in utter disbelief. I'm positive they could weaponize the stupidity in this book and kill anyone with an IQ over 72.
When I encounter things like this, I come to the inevitable conclusion that some books should be burned. And the authors with them. It's really that bad. It took six people to write this thing. Six!
Here's a sample of the idiotic types of puzzles in this book. Put your thinking cap on. This is from the "Sneaky Lateral Thinking Puzzles" section. Ready?
"A farmer has two pigs that are identical twins from the same litter. However, when he sells them he gets 100 times more for one than the other. Why?"
That's it.
I'm sure if you take a minute you can think of a half-dozen plausible reasons. They're all wrong. Here's the right answer:
"This happened in France. One pig was sold for bacon. The other had been painstakingly trained to sniff out truffles and was, therefore, very valuable."
I've posed this question to others and they feel the same way I do about it. There isn't enough information in the question to clue you in as to what the correct response might be. It's ridiculous.
I'll share another one that has an OBVIOUS correct answer that every adult I've asked has given, whereas kids give a huge variety of entertainingly silly but erroneous responses to.
"Four people were playing cards. One played a card and another player immediately jumped up and started to take her clothes off. Why?"
They're playing Strip Poker, right? Bzzt. Wrong, dumbass.
Here's what you were SUPPOSED to say:
"When one player went to play a card, she knocked over a mug. The hot drink poured over the other player, who immediately jumped up and started to take her clothes off."
If you're shaking your head, trust me when I tell you those are among the least moronic bits in this book and that I want to save you from breaking your own neck as you throw it violently from side to side in utter disbelief. I'm positive they could weaponize the stupidity in this book and kill anyone with an IQ over 72.
When I encounter things like this, I come to the inevitable conclusion that some books should be burned. And the authors with them. It's really that bad. It took six people to write this thing. Six!
January 13, 2019
Some good brain teasers and logic puzzles, but the optical illusion puzzles are disappointing and the "Lateral Thinking" puzzles are downright idiotic.
March 31, 2014
Super fun to do with your kids in class if you're a teacher
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews