So You Think You've Got Problems?: Surprising and rewarding puzzles to sharpen your mind

Description

Thought you had it bad? In this book, you will be: Imprisoned by a sadistic logician. Challenged to raise dogs from the dead. Trapped on a burning island. And much more besides . . . Everything is at stake in this compendium of more than 150 ingenious puzzles, selected to reveal the wonderful diversity of brainteasers that have confounded and intrigued solvers for the last thousand years. You'll need to pit your wits against probability problems, wrestle with wordplay, grapple with geometry and scrabble for survival. Along the way you will discover stories of whip-smart thinkers, eccentric novelists and a poodle with allegedly supernatural powers. You will absorb fascinating and important mathematical ideas. Some solutions will rely on ingenuity, some will challenge you to spot hidden patterns, others call for extreme rationality. All will surprise, entertain and stretch your brain. Will you make it out with your puzzling pride intact?

'Think of the best storyteller you know and the coolest teacher you ever had, and now you've got some idea of what Alex Bellos is like.' - Steven Strogatz, Cornell University Alex Bellos has a degree in Mathematics and Philosophy from Oxford. His bestselling, award-winning books Alex's Adventures in Numberland, Alex Through the Looking-Glass, and Can You Solve My Problems? have been translated into more than 20 languages. His YouTube videos have been seen by more than 20 million people, and he writes a popular blog for the Guardian. His latest book is Puzzle Ninja. @alexbellos