The Colossal Book of Short Puzzles and Problems

I'm a huge fan of using novel brain teasers as a form of mental exercise, and boy does Gardner deliver on the goods in this weighty tome. The problems differ widely in content and form. Some can be solved quickly by merely employing just a mental trick or two, such as picking up on a pun or ambiguity. Often, there's a beauty and humour that permeates such problems. Other problems are incredibly technical and academic, but redeemed by the unwavering enthusiasm with which Gardner presents them. For anyone looking for novel mental challenges backed up by an author with a winning personality and genuine enthusiasm for what he does, I'd highly recommend this book.

The puzzles are challenging and interesting!

This is a refreshing collection that, while scarcely new (and it admits to being, with scant exception, a rehash of previous material), presents the puzzles in a delightful format. The organization into sections--chess puzzles, physics puzzles, word puzzles, etc.--is refreshing and an incisive aid to locating just the type of tickler that appeals to you at the moment, and the diagrams, typography, and even feel of the paper are all first-class. In summary, this is a comprehensive and handsome volume that would do well on the intelligent person's bookshelf, even if the material isn't as mathematically sophisticated as Joukowsky airfoils.

Definetly challenging for me since I have to revert back to my math classes of 20 years ago. Sometimes a better explanation of how the answer is derived would make it more of a learning experience.

I don't even know where to start. If you like puzzles and/or math, you'll like this. Here's how you use it (*with two benefits): At the beginning of dinner, read one of the puzzles. This is especially good if you have kids. Talk it through while you work your way through dinner, and read the solution at the end.*Slows down the meal, and stimulates out of the box thinking.

Great book

This is a superb collection of puzzles of all kinds. Anyone experienced or not in the puzzle field should own this book.Martin Gardner is a guarantee for this book's efficiency, and highly educational and entertaining content. 5/5

most enjoyable.