The Penguin Book Of Puzzles

For the puzzle fanatic. A collection of challenges from throughout history, featuring some of the greatest ever puzzle masters . . . -------------------------- A Sumerian Riddle (circa 18th Century) There is a house. The blind enter it and then come out seeing. What is that house? -------------------------- A Charade I have wings, yet never fly - I have sails, yet never go - I cant keep still, if I try, Yet forever stand just so. -------------------------- From the riddles of the ancients to puzzles that perplex the greatest minds of today, The Penguin Book of Puzzles is a glorious compendium of conundrums from throughout history. These challenges will require all the reader's wits to solve, but range from the easy to the brain-bending and are suitable for novice and veteran puzzlers alike. There is something here to suit every taste, including crosswords, mathematical challenges, word games and logic conundrums, but also some intriguing types of puzzles that have been unearthed from centuries gone by. Timeless and entertaining, there are hours of fun waiting in this miscellany of puzzlement.

"Of immense interest to those who enjoy recreational maths and puzzles . . . even the most hardened puzzler will find something new." -- Mathematical Gazette Puzzles are as old as history itself, following an arc like that of technology: centuries of slow progress, followed by rapid expansion in the 1800s, and an explosion of activity in the twentieth century. This collection by bestselling author David Wells, a Cambridge math scholar and teacher, follows that pattern. Its first part is devoted to puzzles from ancient Egypt and Babylon and subsequent sources, featuring those devised by Lewis Carroll, Eduard Lucas, Sam Loyd, and other master puzzlers of the Victorian era. The second part demonstrates the tremendous variety of twentieth-century puzzles. More than 560 puzzles are included, from the "mind sharpeners" of a medieval monk to the eighteenth-century Ladies' Diary, the Hindu Bhakshali manuscript, and riddles and popular rhymes. None requires any mathematics beyond the most elementary algebra and geometry -- and few require even that. Complete answers appear at the end.

"In celebration of the sixty-fifth anniversary of Penguin Classics, Ben Tausig brings together sixty-five puzzles (and ten bonus ones!) about the series’ beloved books, authors, and characters. Constructed by the top crossword creators in the business- including many New York Times regulars-these original puzzles feature themes spanning everything from Greek mythology to F. Scott Fitzgerald to movie adaptations of Jane Austen. A mix of straightforward clues, amusing puns, and surprising twists will entertain and challenge casual puzzle solvers of all ages."--

Collection of miscellaneous facts and anecdotes from mathematicians.

THINK YOU KNOW BOSCH FROM BOTTICELLI? MONDRIAN FROM MIRO? THINK AGAIN... The Art Puzzle Book turns art history on its head by testing your brainpower and perception on some the world's most iconic paintings. Journey from ancient Egypt to 1980s New York solving riddles, discovering hidden secrets and challenging your general knowledge. Esteemed art historian Susie Hodge and leading brain trainer Dr Gareth Moore introduce you to 36 iconic pieces of art – including Botticelli's Primavera, Van Gogh's The Starry Night and Picasso's Guernica. For each painting, they reveal fascinating facts about the work and artist (and give clues on what to look for), before challenging you to decipher the art for yourself through carefully crafted questions. Look at art in new ways as you: Decode the hieroglyphs from the Book of the Dead Find new symbols in The Arnolfini Portrait Solve riddles based on The Garden of Earthly Delights Navigate M.C. Escher's gravity-defying staircases Reassemble the Mondrian With over 300 questions, The Art Puzzle Book is designed to entertain and perplex, whether you're an art novice or an art connoisseur. Features artworks by: Altichiero, the Limbourg Brothers, Gentile da Fabriano, Jan van Eyck, Botticelli, Hieronymus Bosch, Michelangelo, Raphael, Titian, Bruegel the Elder, Paolo Veronese, Basawan and Chetar Munti, Caravaggio, Hendrick Avercamp, Artemisia Gentileschi, Diego Velazquez, Johannes Vermeer, Francisco de Goya, Hiroshige, Claude Monet, Edouard Manet, Georges-Pierre Seurat, Vincent van Gogh, Suzanne Valadon, Sonia Delaunay, Joan Miro, Piet Mondrian, Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali, Frida Kahlo, M.C. Escher, Robert Rauschenberg, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring.

Why was the number of Hardy's taxi significant? Why does Graham's number need its own notation? How many grains of sand would fill the universe? What is the connection between the Golden Ratio and sunflowers? Why is 999 more than a distress call? All these questions and a host more are answered in this fascinating book, which has now been newly revised, with nearly 200 extra entries and some 250 additions to the original entries. From minus one and its square root, via cyclic, weird, amicable, perfect, untouchable and lucky numbers, aliquot sequences, the Cattle problem, Pascal's triangle and the Syracuse algorithm, music, magic and maps, pancakes, polyhedra and palindromes, to numbers so large that they boggle the imagination, all you ever wanted to know about numbers is here. There is even a comprehensive index for those annoying occasions when you remember the name but can't recall the number.

** WINNER OF 'STOCKING FILLER OF THE YEAR AWARD' GUARDIAN ** Pit your wits against the people who cracked Enigma in the official puzzle book from Britain's secretive intelligence organisation, GCHQ. 'A fiendish work, as frustrating, divisive and annoying as it is deeply fulfilling: the true spirit of Christmas' Guardian 'Surely the trickiest puzzle book in years. Crack these fiendish problems and Trivial Pursuit should be a doddle' Daily Telegraph If 3=T, 4=S, 5=P, 6=H, 7=H ...what is 8? What is the next letter in the sequence: M, V, E, M, J, S, U, ? Which of the following words is the odd one out: CHAT, COMMENT, ELF, MANGER, PAIN, POUR? GCHQ is a top-secret intelligence and security agency which recruits some of the very brightest minds. Over the years, their codebreakers have helped keep our country safe, from the Bletchley Park breakthroughs of WWII to the modern-day threat of cyberattack. So it comes as no surprise that, even in their time off, the staff at GCHQ love a good puzzle. Whether they're recruiting new staff or challenging each other to the toughest Christmas quizzes and treasure hunts imaginable, puzzles are at the heart of what GCHQ does. Now they're opening up their archives of decades' worth of codes, puzzles and challenges for everyone to try. In this book you will find: - Tips on how to get into the mindset of a codebreaker - Puzzles ranging in difficulty from easy to brain-bending - A competition section where we search for Britain's smartest puzzler Good luck! 'Ideal for the crossword enthusiast' Daily Telegraph