Vous voulez voir cette page en français ? Cliquez ici.

Have one to sell? Sell yours here
Tell the Publisher!
I'd like to read this book on Kindle

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

Challenging Lateral Thinking Puzzles [Paperback]

Paul Sloane , Des MacHale , Myron Miller
3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)

Available from these sellers.



Book Description

Jun 30 1993
Lateral thinking is the key to solving these tantalizing puzzles. Packed with hundreds of brain teasers and mathematical problems, the book will test kids' powers of logic, and patience! "The logic, reasoning, and calculating required by the problems...will delight and torment puzzle fans."--Booklist. "Ninety-one how come' mysteries....We never get enough of these."--Games.

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought


Product Details


Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store

If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store. Learn more

Customer Reviews

Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars Don't take this book too laterally ;-) Jun 2 2003
By Matt
I got this book, along with 3 other Sloane & MacHale lateral thinking puzzle books for Christmas one year. At first it seemed like a sorry excuse for a gift, but as I read this one first, I found that it was a challenging endeavor of the mind. Lateral thinking, it seems, is taking a situation and finding a solution that is not the most obvious, but usually the most logical. That said, this is challenging to say the least. A good book for people who enjoy mind games.
Was this review helpful to you?
1.0 out of 5 stars Too vague to be useful Mar 12 2002
I would say that only about 15 percent of this book has material that is really useful as lateral-thinking exercises. The rest of it is too vague to be of much use. Useful questions should be specific enough to narrow down a solution by exercising the various methods of lateral thinking. For example, you should be able to come up with a specific solution by considering ways in which your assumptions affect how you understand the question. This book has too many "why did the chicken cross the road?" questions that require you to be psychic in order to get anywhere near the solution or require you to pull some obscure fact out of the clear blue sky.
Was this review helpful to you?
3.0 out of 5 stars Good Intro to Lateral Thinking Puzzles May 3 2001
By Fred
I picked up this book after completing "Archimedes Bathtub; the Art and Logic of Breakthrough Thinking" by David Perkins. The book expounded on the benefits of this genre of mind puzzle, and I wanted to check out some of them for myself. I was a bit disappointed in what I found for several reasons; the puzzles were identical to the most common puzzles I had come across (including "There's a man coming home"); many of the same puzzles can be found on any of the multiple lateral thinking websites; and finally many of them were so laden with historical knowledge that the problem was more a test of trivia knowledge than what could be considered a true lateral thinking puzzle.

That being said, the book was well put together with good hints and final answers located far enough from the answer so as to prevent haphazard skipping ahead to answers. Some of the puzzles were quite ingenious, and there were two review 'tests' which allowed you to monitor your progress. It is very clear that the author had spent some time with the puzzles, and the illustrations, while corny, did help to break up what would otherwise be a very short book. While the book was somewhat disappointing in the aforementioned areas, it did succeed in its most basic claim, and for that reason I would recommend it to anyone looking to learn a little bit more about the subject, as I imagine the book to be as good as any available (who knows, I may yet read a second).

If you are already well-versed in lateral thinking puzzles, this might not be the book for you. If you are looking to find out more about them, this is probably as good a place to start as any.

Was this review helpful to you?
Want to see more reviews on this item?

Listmania!

Create a Listmania! list

Look for similar items by category


Feedback