Description

Category:Games & PuzzlesPuzzlesPuzzles-Puz
Publisher: Guardian Faber | ISBN: 9781783351916 | Pages: 288

Thought you had it bad? In this book, you will be: Imprisoned by a sadistic logician. Challenged to raise dogs from the dead. Trapped on a burning island. And much more besides . . . Everything is at stake in this compendium of more than 150 ingenious puzzles, selected to reveal the wonderful diversity of brainteasers that have confounded and intrigued solvers for the last thousand years. You ll need to pit your wits against probability problems, wrestle with wordplay, grapple with geometry and scrabble for survival. Along the way you will discover stories of whip-smart thinkers, eccentric novelists and a poodle with allegedly supernatural powers. You will absorb fascinating and important mathematical ideas. Some solutions will rely on ingenuity, some will challenge you to spot hidden patterns, others call for extreme rationality. All will surprise, entertain and stretch your brain. Will you make it out with your puzzling pride intact?

About the Author

Alex Bellos is an author and broadcaster whose specialises in mathematics and Brazil. When he was the Guardian s correspondent in South America he wrote Futebol: The Brazilian Way of Life, a look at contemporary Brazil seen through football. It was a huge critical success, and led to his being asked to ghostwrite Pelé: The Autobiography. He is also the author of the popular math books Alex s Adventures in Numberland and Alex Through the Looking-Glass, which were both bestsellers in the UK. The former has had more than 20 translations and won awards.