Mensa Math & Logic Puzzles [Paperback]

Dave Tuller (Author), Michael Rios (Author)

Book Description

Series: Mensa | Publication Date: December 31, 2000

Join the ranks of the geniuses, and leave behind the merely brilliant! Try to figure out 20 tough types of puzzles like the ones found at international puzzle competitions. These are puzzles that require no verbal skills to solve; you just need your logical brain. How hard can they be? Simple arithmetic and a sharp pencil (with a full eraser) are all you need, plus paying close, close attention. Start by following twisting paths made by worms crawling across triangular grids. Then forecast weather patterns by detecting rain cloud patterns in a numbered diagram. Find lost fleets of ships in grids where only a few different shapes are visible. Rearrange dominoes according to a diagram (problem is, the edges of the tiles have been removed). More fun awaits you with hex loops, skyscrapers, lighthouses, and other suddenly fiendish objects.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Dave Tuller lives in Boulder, Co, and Michael Rios lives in Schaumburg, IL.

Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Sterling (December 31, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0806941995
• ISBN-13: 978-0806941998
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 8.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,862,414 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Start Solving!, November 2, 2000

By 

Puzzle and Origami Enthusiast (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mensa Math & Logic Puzzles (Paperback)

Whenever I see a new puzzle book printed under the Mensa name, I usually stay clear. Those multiple-choice IQ tests just aren't my thing. But this book is a welcome exception. For those of you who are fans of math and logic puzzles, I cannot imagine a better or more economical choice of books.

The puzzles are similar in style to those found in Games magazine, Japan's Puzzler magazine, and the World Puzzle Championships. These are not the same, tired puzzles that make their way into dozens of puzzle books and Dell publications. These are highly original, brain-busting fun!

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent logic puzzles, May 1, 2003

By 

Nancy - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mensa Math & Logic Puzzles (Paperback)

I had a great time completing these puzzles. There are twenty different types of puzzles in this book. Some of the puzzles were old favorites - Battleship, Dominoes and Number Place, but most of them were new to me. This was a welcome change from the same old puzzles I had been doing for years.

Some of the puzzles can be found in Games Magazine or Dell's Math and Logic Problems magazine. If you like those magazines, but crave a little more variety, then you'll love this book. Unlike those magazines, there are no word problems in this book. In fact, none of the puzzles required any reading at all. No real math is required either. They all used some type of square grid format that is appealing to mathematical and logical minds.

This is a really high quality puzzle book, with great puzzles, good quality paper (you can erase puzzles and redo them later), and spiral binding. You get a lot of puzzles for your money. I wish the authors would create a second edition! The other Mensa books just don't compare. If you like this book, you'll probably also like Mind Sharpening Pixel Puzzles and Perplexing Pixel Puzzles.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very satisfying puzzles, August 17, 2001

By 

Tyler Hinman (England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mensa Math & Logic Puzzles (Paperback)

When I finished the last puzzle in this book, I felt quite proud of my skills in the puzzles I'd solved through logic only, and proud of my perseverance in the puzzles I couldn't get through logic and had to guess on. In some cases, like in Black And White and Dominoes, I was able to discover a certain technique in the first few of the set that I could apply to the rest. In this respect, I think the book made me better at logic puzzles.

If anyone can get through every puzzle in this book without having to guess, that person is truly a super-genius. It seems to me like the authors' main goal was to include just enough clues so that the solution would be unique. This is admirable in a way, as picking the right clues to include seems like quite a formidable task, and the authors have done it well. Lighthouses #10 is the only puzzle with more than one solution (one ship can be placed in either of two locations), and only a couple others seemed to have extraneous clues. However, this minimal clue-giving makes a logical breakthrough that much harder.

That said, this is a great book to keep a puzzle solver occupied. Enjoy it!