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Aha!: Aha! Insight and Aha! Gotcha (Spectrum)

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This book contains the complete texts of the two classic Gardner productions, Aha! Gotcha and Aha! Insight. If you have not read both of these books, then you are mathematically deprived, as they contain some of the best mathematical puzzles ever created. Many people in the business world tout the concept of "lateral thinking", which is a way to approach problems by attacking them from unusual and non-obvious directions. That is certainly the way to approach the problems in this collection, and the benefit to the reader is a good deal more than the solution to a problem. You cannot help but learn some mathematics.
The title of the second book is an accurate reflection of the consequences of solving these problems. When the solution is presented, the very demonstration gives you some significant insight into how problems are solved in general, as well as the specifics of math problems. Many of the puzzles have applications to the problems that occur in real life, such as how housework should be divided between two people to minimize the frustrations.
Martin Gardner has done more than anyone else to advance the general interest in mathematics and you can see why when you read each problem in this combined collection. He is a master at making the complex simple and disguising the simple as complex.

Published in Journal of Recreational Mathematics, reprinted with permission