Customer Reviews

Classic Logic Puzzles

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

It's not a good sign when the very first logic puzzle in a collection called CLASSIC LOGIC PUZZLES is defective! The goal of the first puzzle is to have the reader match up three family members with their respective automobiles. Try as I might, I was unable to completely narrow it down. Swallowing my pride, I then checked the solution in the back of the book. Using logic that escapes me, the author declares that the SUV must belong to the teenage son because this vehicle is brand new. What the?! None of the information provided in the puzzle leads to this conclusion. The author must live in a world where teenage sons always drive new cars! I'm afraid to look at the rest of the puzzles in this book. If any of the other solutions are as non-sensical as this one, I'd rather spare myself the frustration.

I agree with the reviewer that gave it 1 star, although I didn't rate it that low. I too had trouble with the first puzzles, but after that the puzzles started make sense, until puzzle 5B- Audubon Field Trip. I have a few problems with this certain puzzle. 1) The editor must have been in a rush because the formatting is horrible on clues numbers 5 and 6. 2) I had to look in the back of the book because they FAILED TO MENTION THE LAST PERSON IN THE PUZZLE! There are supposed to be four married couples, but you they only tell you the names of seven people, excluding one! HER NAME IS SUSAN! THE FORGOTTEN WOMAN IS SUSAN! Once you know that, it should be solvable. I put this book away for the longest because of these two problems I had with the book. Overall, this book is decent, and I picked it up for $3.00 at Half Price Books, so it definitely wasn't expensive, which might explain the formatting and missing clues. This is as far as I've gotten, so I don't know if there are other problems like I've seen with this puzzle, but if I had to guess, I would say there are other problems. But if you can find it cheap and overlook these problems, then this is a good find, because most of the puzzles don't have these flaws.

Doubting Thomas failed to use ALL the information in the first puzzle. The opening, un-numbered paragraph states that the SUV is new. I also failed to solve that puzzle on my own, but I accepted that I needed to raise my performance to the book's standards, including using all the details given.

Faith Harvey is right. The "Audobon Field Trip" puzzle presentation gives you seven first names to use in filling eight boxes. This made the puzzle less enjoayble and harder to solve for me because I kept wondering if one of the names was used twice. Nonetheless, I solved the puzzle, leaving one first name blank. The eighth name is mentioned ONLY in the SOLUTION. You can take on the challenge of solving it as is, or you can read on and find the eighth name in every fifth character here: 124S3456U5678S523A7870N7456

Anyone have any other errata to share after the Audubon puzzle?

Anyone know how to contact any of the authors or editors?

This is great if you want to get together with friends and ask question the questions are not extremely hard it just take logical thinking, it seems easy but some of it can really confuse you. So it's a buy, and very cheap now.

Whatever you do, dear reader, do not read this book straight through. Attempting this will introduce you quite early in your reading to the logical fallacy known as the Binary Nature of All Assertions, which (mis)states that anything & everything is either true or false. The first puzzle resides in an ambiguous state, which, per se, is fine by me. Too bad the authoring logicians disagree, arbitrarily choosing one of these states from the ether for their so-called solution. I give this book 5 stars not in spite but, rather, because of this failing. For not all books carry their utility in their logic. This book would make a wonderful practical joke gift to a friend or, perhaps, an enemy. But never claim to have solved every puzzle in the book, for someone might realize on puzzle 1A, if they have a brain, that you don't have a brain. Another use would be to give this book out to the youth of a generation & make them despise this thing they don't get called logic, tempting them into the soft arms of faith, & saving them into the kingdom of heaven where reigns a god whom none have seen but all believe. In short, having mastered the logic of this book, I give it a 5!