Clever Lateral Thinking Puzzles [Paperback]

Edward Harshman (Author)

Book Description

Series: Lateral Thinking Puzzles | Publication Date: December 31, 1997

Lateral thinking puzzles start with a normal situation-then they quickly become weird. Take Bob. He smashes the taillights of a stranger's car. But the cops arrest the car's owner, not Bob. Why? Bob had been kidnapped and was inside the trunk when he broke the lights. That's just a taste of the strange situations and irresistible challenges you'll encounter here!

Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Sterling (December 31, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0806999381
• ISBN-13: 978-0806999388
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.2 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,079,021 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars The puzzles are fine; the answers aren't, February 12, 1998

By 

P. Mann (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Clever Lateral Thinking Puzzles (Paperback)

Edward J. Harshman's "Clever Lateral Thinking Puzzles" is a rather serious disappointment. For the uninitiated, "lateral thinking puzzles" are mind exercises that discourage standard problem-solving methods and reward cleverness and innovation. One of the problems with Harshman's book is that it includes no instructions or introduction. Some sort of proem would have gone a long way to helping the uninitiated. While it would seem clear what the puzzles want (i.e., an explanation of apparently strange facts), there is indeed room to wonder.

Consider, for example, the puzzle in which a man locks his son out of the house, for which the son thanks his father. Harshman's solution is that the father's actions forced the pampered son to strike out on his own and make a living for himself. While there is nothing wrong with that solution as *an* (as opposed to *the*) answer, certainly other answers come to mind. The father could have bombed the house for fleas without the son being aware of that fact; the father then could have locked the door to prevent his son from inadvertently walking in and inhaling the noxious fumes. The point is that few of the solutions are unique, and there is really no clear way to arrive at Harshman's answer and not an alternate one that works.

In fairness, this problem is hardly unique to "Clever Lateral Thinking Puzzles." Games such as "MindTrap" and the Mensa quiz books contain similar problems, though not on the scale that "Clever Lateral Thinking Puzzles" does. And at least in the case of MindTrap, it is clearly intended to be interactive and therefore allows one person to answer questions and avoid the ambiguities.

2.0 out of 5 stars If you want to test what you know this is the book for you., January 8, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Clever Lateral Thinking Puzzles (Paperback)

It had the things you know mixed in with the things you wouldn't think of. The answers are things you would never think of. You really have to rack your brain to think of the right answer which I promise you is not totally impossible.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars BUY THIS BOOK!, September 26, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Clever Lateral Thinking Puzzles (Paperback)

This book was great. I loved it the puzzles streched my brain it made me a lot smarter. Hours of fun!