"Humans are the only animals who create and solve puzzles--for the sheer pleasure of it--and there is no obvious genetic reason why we would do this. Marcel Danesi explores the psychology of puzzles and puzzling, with scores of classic examples. His pioneering book is both entertaining and enlightening." --Will Shortz, Crossword Editor, The New York Times "... Puzzle fanatics will enjoy the many riddles, illusions, cryptograms and other mind-benders offered for analysis." --Psychology Today "... a bristlingly clear... always intriguing survey of the history and rationale of puzzles.... A] splendid study...." --Knight Ridder Newspapers

How you can become better at solving real-world problems by learning creative puzzle-solving skills We solve countless problems—big and small—every day. With so much practice, why do we often have trouble making simple decisions—much less arriving at optimal solutions to important questions? Are we doomed to this muddle—or is there a practical way to learn to think more effectively and creatively? In this enlightening, entertaining, and inspiring book, Edward Burger shows how we can become far better at solving real-world problems by learning creative puzzle-solving skills using simple, effective thinking techniques. Making Up Your Own Mind teaches these techniques—including how to ask good questions, fail and try again, and change your mind—and then helps you practice them with fun verbal and visual puzzles. The goal is not to quickly solve each challenge but to come up with as many different ways of thinking about it as possible. As you see the puzzles in ever-greater depth, your mind will change, helping you become a more imaginative and creative thinker in daily life. And learning how to be a better thinker pays off in incalculable ways for anyone—including students, businesspeople, professionals, athletes, artists, leaders, and lifelong learners. A book about changing your mind and creating an even better version of yourself through mental play, Making Up Your Own Mind will delight and reward anyone who wants to learn how to find better solutions to life’s innumerable puzzles. And the puzzles extend to the thought-provoking format of the book itself because one of the later short chapters is printed upside down while another is printed in mirror image, further challenging the reader to see the world through different perspectives and make new meaning.

Learn how to take the "tease" out of brainteasers, and increase your puzzle IQ with this eye-opening guide to solving puzzles. Revealing the basic principles and strategies of cracking logic problems, it shows you, step-by-step, how to solve ten of the most common types of puzzles, from basic deduction conundrums to more complex mathematical bafflers. Packed with practice puzzles and offering hours of amusement and mental challenge, Increase Your Puzzle IQ gives you the know-how you need to decipher even the most puzzling of puzzles. Why are 1997 dollar bills worth more than 1980 dollar bills? In a box there are 20 balls, 10 white and 10 black. With a blindfold on, what is the least number you must draw out in order to get a pair of balls that matches? Which clock keeps the best time? The clock that loses a minute a day or one that doesn't run at all? I have two current U.S. coins in my hand. The two coins add up to 15?. One of the coins is not a nickel. What two coins do I have? How much dirt is there in a hole that is 1 foot wide by 1 foot long by 1 foot deep?

This brand-new puzzle book features 200 logic questions of varying types and difficulty. Mental workout warriors and logic lovers will adore The Everything Book of Logic Puzzles Volume I. You’ll learn ten different kinds of puzzles and how to solve each, with the difficulty slowly increasing from basic to expert as you go along. And every single puzzle is specifically designed to improve memory, vocabulary, and logical reasoning. With increasingly difficult puzzles ranging from introductory to fiendish, and comprehensive answers to explain each puzzle, this book is perfect for puzzlers of all ages and skill levels!

A walk through history's most mind-boggling puzzles Ever since the Sphinx asked his legendary riddle of Oedipus, riddles, conundrums, and puzzles of all sizes have kept humankind perplexed and amused. The Liar Paradox and the Towers of Hanoi takes die-hard puzzle mavens on a tour of the world's most enduringly intriguing braintwisters, from K?nigsberg's Bridges and the Hanoi Towers to Fibonacci's Rabbits, the Four Color Problem, and the Magic Square. Each chapter introduces the basic puzzle, discusses the mathematics behind it, and includes exercises and answers plus additional puzzles similar to the one under discussion. Here is a veritable kaleidoscope of puzzling labyrinths, maps, bridges, and optical illusions that will keep aficionados entertained for hours. Marcel Danesi (Etobicoke, ON, Canada) is the author of Increase Your Puzzle IQ

Have fun and flex your mental muscle with brainteasers, word searches, cryptograms, optical illusions, sudoku, frameworks, logic puzzles, trivia and more. Did you know that different parts of your brain control different functions, and that with exercise, you can make each part of your brain stronger? In The Total Brain Workout you’ll find 450 fun, challenging and absorbing puzzles designed to specifically target the core parts of your brain that control language, logic, memory, reasoning and visual perception. Each set of puzzles ranges from easy to challenging, and is presented with information on the area of your brain being targeted and the functions it controls, so you can customize your own workout to the specific areas you want to improve.

Discusses the practice of using one's instincts in five ways to achieve success and happiness, including acting before you think, committing to just enough, and knowing when to do nothing.