Customer Reviews

The Puzzler's Elusion: A Tale of Fraud, Pursuit, and the Art of Logic

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Forget Sudoku or the Times' Sunday crossword; The Puzzler's Elusion is a much better way to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon. Filled with enjoyable puzzles based in all subject areas from simple mathematics to information theory to computer science, these puzzles (all backed by fun story lines) will keep you thinking for hours on end.

Note that while it's true one can solve the puzzles with no more than a high school-level knowledge of algebra and geometry, Shasha's background as a professor of computer science shows through in that many of the puzzles are much more easily solved with some knowledge of computer science algorithms and techniques, such as dynamic programming. In fact, many of the puzzles in this book share similarities with the types of logic questions posed during interviews by some of the big tech companies. So, if you're planning to interview for a development position and you're looking to practice your logic, this would be a great place to start.

I'm only halfway through the book, but thus far it's been quite enjoyable and thought provoking, and I'm eagerly looking forward to finishing it over the next few days. Highly recommended.

This book is superior for anyone interested in thinking about logical and mathematical problem solving. It's written in a light style with interesting character development and includes mostly new material in the puzzling realm. Many problems are open ended with possibly ground breaking results to be found. There is a puzzle contest challenge with a prize to whomever negotiates all the clues. It's a must have book for any library containing puzzle book. My heartiest congratulations to Dennis Shasha.