Tricky Mindtrap Puzzles: Challenge the Way You Think & See

Book Description

Along with Lateral Mindtrap Puzzles, try some that are even tougher, because you've got to rely on your powers of observation, not just your talent for detecting verbal clues. Photos show close-ups of ordinary objects, and offer a tantalizing clue in words, often a taunting rhyme or quotation. The answers appear on another page, where you see the objects the way you usually look at them. Have you ever really looked at a single red-and-white spiral on a candy cane? Could you recognize a notch on the gear of a can opener? Or, a pair of kernels of corn? Of course you've seen them all before. They're so familiar, they're almost impossible to recognize! In addition, there are lots of trick questions: Is there a Fourth of July in Canada? Yes! It's the day after July 3!

Customer Reviews:

Loved it!.......2006-11-02

It was all the book described it would be, it was fun and tricky and even my employer bought one for her son!

Pleasurable mental stimulation.......2006-04-02

There are two types of puzzles in this book. On each page there is a close up photo of a common object with a short textual clue underneath. For example, on page 37 there is a photo of two batteries and the caption is "Cell mates." Most of the time these puzzles are easy to solve, but there were some that I just could not get. One in particular was a paper towel with the caption, "Dam the flow."
The other puzzles are textual and some are tricky, but easy to solve if you are careful. For example, there is the question regarding what historical event occurred on November 31, 1793. Of course, with 30 days in November, there was no such day. My favorites were the garbled nursery rhymes. I found them easy to decipher, but I admired the cleverness that went into creating them.
This is an enjoyable collection of puzzles, they provided me with a great deal of relaxing mental stimulation, which is always a pleasure.

Great bargain.......2001-02-21

For its price I definitely recommend all the puzzle lovers out there to get it. It's got some tantalizing, original puzzles in it, like they'll show you a close-up of an object and ask you to identify it. This is much harder than you think, but very entertaining. The "nursery rhyme" puzzles are truly one of its kind. They paraphrase a nursery rhyme into a mad-scientist's language and ask you to identify the jumbled nursery rhyme. Too bad there're only four such puzzles in it... And then there's also the silly "does canada have a july 4th" type of puzzles. This brings down the score, but really this puzzle book is as original as well as fun as one could possibly hope for.

The Ultimate Lateral & Critical Thinking Puzzle Book: Master Your "Thinking-Outside-The-Box" Skills (Puzzle Books)

Average customer rating:

The Ultimate Lateral & Critical Thinking Puzzle Book: Master Your "Thinking-Outside-The-Box" Skills (Puzzle Books)
Des MacHale , Michael A. DiSpezio , and Paul Sloane
Manufacturer: Sterling
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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So You Think You're Smart: 150 Fun and Challenging Brain Teasers

ASIN: 1402703074

Book Description

Test your brain power and your ability to "think outside the box" with this collection of clever conundrums. Perfect for family fun and friendly get-togethers, as well as school settings and management training seminars, these challenging puzzles force you to check assumptions, use deductive reasoning, and uncover creative solutions. Best worked in small groups, lateral thinking puzzles present a seemingly bizarre situation that needs to be explained. Solvers ask a "quizmaster" questions to gather information and arrive at the "right" answer. Clues are provided for those who get stuck. Critical thinking puzzles can be worked individually, and are designed to stretch the way you interpret the world. You'll need to uncover relationships, look for sequences, and make observations. Some require inexpensive, readily available materials such as scissors, toothpicks, and a yardstick. Every puzzle will force you to think in new ways, but just as importantly, they are fun to do!

Think you're up to the challenge? Try these:

Free Lunch
A man in a restaurant used two forks and one knife. He did not pay for his lunch. What was happening?

Clues:
The man ate his lunch with one knife and one fork.
He provided a service.
The restaurant provided an intimate atmosphere in the evenings.

Solution: The man was a piano tuner who had come to tune the piano in the restaurant. He brought his own tuning fork. The restaurateur repaid the service with a free lunch.

Spare Change
Jonathan has a pocket full of coins. Yet he doesn't have the right combination of coins to make change for a nickel, dime, quarter, half dollar, or dollar. What is the largest value of coins Jonathan can have in his pocket?

Solution: $1.19. Jonathan has four pennies, four dimes, one quarter, one half dollar. Added together, they amount to $1.19.

Average customer rating:

Challenging But Flawed
Don't take this book too laterally ;-)
Too vague to be useful
Good Intro to Lateral Thinking Puzzles
great for car trips and party games

Challenging Lateral Thinking Puzzles
Paul Sloane , and Des MacHale
Manufacturer: Sterling
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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So You Think You're Smart: 150 Fun and Challenging Brain Teasers

ASIN: 0806986719

Book Description

Lateral thinking is the key to solving these tantalizing puzzles. Packed with hundreds of brain teasers and mathematical problems, the book will test kids' powers of logic, and patience! "The logic, reasoning, and calculating required by the problems...will delight and torment puzzle fans."--Booklist. "Ninety-one `how come' mysteries....We never get enough of these."--Games.

Customer Reviews:

Challenging But Flawed.......2007-03-19

"Challenging Lateral Thinking Puzzles" by Paul Sloane and Des MacHale is a book of puzzles that challenges readers to not take the puzzles at face value, but approach the problems from the side, coming up with a unique answer. There are four different types of puzzles: Easy, Moderate, Difficult, and Fiendish. Following the puzzles is a clue section, which mostly consists of several questions that can be answered "yes" or "no", although a few of the clues consist of a further explanation of the puzzle, with no questions. After the clue section is the answer section with a detailed explanation of each puzzle. There are also two WALLY (World Association for Laughter, Learning, and Youth) Tests. One is easy, the other is advanced. The authors put a four minute time limit on these tests, which are more like riddles than the lateral thinking puzzles. There is no clue section for the WALLY tests.

"Challenging Lateral Thinking Puzzles" is indeed a challenging book. It's best used with a group of people with people taking turns asking the questions while others guess the answers. The easy puzzles are, for the most part, very easy. Some of them, like "The Nephew" are in fact too easy, while "Your Turn to Drive" is also easy but pushes the lateral thinking concept. However, several of the puzzles are great examples of lateral thinking, namely "Father and Son" and "Another Man in an Elevator" which has a nice twist on a classical lateral thinking puzzle. The puzzle "Wondrous Walk" is very easy but made me smile. While a couple of the puzzles in the Moderate Section are pretty easy, especially "Flat Tire I" and "Flat Tire II", a couple of them are good examples of lateral thinking especially "Saturday Flights" and "The Hold-Up". Some puzzles are too hard and need more clues, especially "Death in a Car". The Difficult Section is indeed difficult, but not in a good way. One of the puzzles, "The Protagoras Paradox" has no real answer and shouldn't have been included in the book. "The Missing Furniture" puzzle is implausible and the puzzle "Found, Lost, Found" needs more information. The Fiendish Section contains some good lateral thinking puzzles such as "The Deadly Shot", "The Cellar Door" and "Flat Out". The WALLY puzzles are more riddles than puzzles and are pretty easy with answers that will make you groan.

"Challenging Lateral Puzzles" has a few things I didn't like. The puzzles do not list what pages the clues and answers are on, so there's a lot of flipping back and forth between pages. Some of the clues aren't that helpful and some, like the last clue for "The Apple Problem" and "The Amazing Fall" are badly worded and don't help solve the puzzle. And one of the answers to the clues for "Cuddly Bears" is missing which is frustrating.

"Challenging Lateral Puzzles" is a fun but flawed puzzle book.

Don't take this book too laterally ;-).......2003-06-03

I got this book, along with 3 other Sloane & MacHale lateral thinking puzzle books for Christmas one year. At first it seemed like a sorry excuse for a gift, but as I read this one first, I found that it was a challenging endeavor of the mind. Lateral thinking, it seems, is taking a situation and finding a solution that is not the most obvious, but usually the most logical. That said, this is challenging to say the least. A good book for people who enjoy mind games.

Too vague to be useful.......2002-03-12

I would say that only about 15 percent of this book has material that is really useful as lateral-thinking exercises. The rest of it is too vague to be of much use. Useful questions should be specific enough to narrow down a solution by exercising the various methods of lateral thinking. For example, you should be able to come up with a specific solution by considering ways in which your assumptions affect how you understand the question. This book has too many "why did the chicken cross the road?" questions that require you to be psychic in order to get anywhere near the solution or require you to pull some obscure fact out of the clear blue sky.

Good Intro to Lateral Thinking Puzzles.......2001-05-03

I picked up this book after completing "Archimedes Bathtub; the Art and Logic of Breakthrough Thinking" by David Perkins. The book expounded on the benefits of this genre of mind puzzle, and I wanted to check out some of them for myself. I was a bit disappointed in what I found for several reasons; the puzzles were identical to the most common puzzles I had come across (including "There's a man coming home"); many of the same puzzles can be found on any of the multiple lateral thinking websites; and finally many of them were so laden with historical knowledge that the problem was more a test of trivia knowledge than what could be considered a true lateral thinking puzzle.

That being said, the book was well put together with good hints and final answers located far enough from the answer so as to prevent haphazard skipping ahead to answers. Some of the puzzles were quite ingenious, and there were two review 'tests' which allowed you to monitor your progress. It is very clear that the author had spent some time with the puzzles, and the illustrations, while corny, did help to break up what would otherwise be a very short book. While the book was somewhat disappointing in the aforementioned areas, it did succeed in its most basic claim, and for that reason I would recommend it to anyone looking to learn a little bit more about the subject, as I imagine the book to be as good as any available (who knows, I may yet read a second).

If you are already well-versed in lateral thinking puzzles, this might not be the book for you. If you are looking to find out more about them, this is probably as good a place to start as any.

great for car trips and party games.......2000-11-21

I gave this book to my son about a year ago. It has provided hours of fun and good growth in logic. Our whole family has gotten smarter I think by doing these brain teasers.

Average customer rating:

Cleverly Done Puzzle Book
Don't take this book too laterally ;-)
Great Book

Intriguing Lateral Thinking Puzzles
Paul Sloane , Des MacHale , and Myron Miller
Manufacturer: Sterling
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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So You Think You're Smart: 150 Fun and Challenging Brain Teasers

ASIN: 0806942525

Book Description

Learn to "think laterally" and you'll solve pesky puzzles. These 110 puzzles start out fairly easy and the clues get more and more tantalizingly hard to figure out. They come in five sections: Dangerous and Deadly, Easy and Elementary, Interesting and Intriguing, Chastening and Challenging, and Fascinating and Fiendish. Just when you're on a roll, here comes a "Wally Test," a series of rapid-fire questions to make sure you're paying attention. 96 pages, 25 b/w illus., 5 3/8 x 8 1/4.

Customer Reviews:

Cleverly Done Puzzle Book.......2007-05-18

"Intriguing Lateral Thinking Puzzles" contains 110 puzzles that have strange situations that need a rational explanation. The puzzles don't include everything needed to solve them, but there is a clue section to help. The book is designed for two or more people, with one person asking the puzzles and answering questions with either "yes, no, or irrelevant" while others try to solve the puzzles. There are five puzzle sections: Dangerous and Deadly Puzzles; Easy and Elementary Puzzles; Intriguing and Interesting Puzzles; Challenging and Chastening Puzzles; and Fascinating and Fiendish Puzzles. The clue section, which immediately follows the puzzle section, is arranged by puzzle name, however, the answer section is arranged alphabetically. There is one WALLY test, which is fourteen fairly easy riddles.

"Intriguing Lateral Thinking Puzzles" is one of the best lateral thinking puzzle books that I've read. It's not perfect, while they are meant to be solved using clues, some of the puzzles are too short (some are only one sentence long!) and there's just not enough information to solve them. Examples of this are: "The Hasty Packer", "Poor Dogs", "Untying the Rope", "The Cloth", and "Nun-plussed". Several of the puzzles are implausible, which makes it frustrating to try to solve them. These puzzles include: "New Shoes", "40 Feet Ahead", "Strange Reactions", "Desert", "Mutilation", "The Parcel", "The Missing Diamond", "Three Notes" and "Catching a Bullet". However, for the most part the book is a nice mix of puzzles ranging from easy to puzzles that require real lateral thinking. Some of the easier puzzles include the WALLY test as well as "School Friend", "The Clinch", "Precognition", "Red Light", "Call Box", "Library Lunacy", "The Crash", "Doctor's Appointment", and "Poor Impersonation". Some of the best puzzles in the book, the ones requiring real lateral thinking, include: "The Sign", "Heartless", "Thirsty", "The Tree and the Axe", "Confectionery Manufacturer", "The Painter", "Beautiful Girls", "Orange Trick", "Good-bye, Mother", "Car in the River", "The Typist", "Two Jugs", "Twin Trouble", "Invaluable", "The Code" and "Time of Arrival". "Fair Deal" is a classic lateral-thinking puzzle that still caught me off guard. The clue section is a mixed bag - the most helpful clues were for the puzzles "The Deadly Melody", "Dead Drunk", and "The Hasty Packer". Having the answers in alphabetical order is a great idea because it prevents you from accidentally seeing the answer to the next puzzle.

"Intriguing Lateral Thinking Puzzles" is extremely clever and well done.

Don't take this book too laterally ;-).......2003-06-03

Great Book.......2000-05-05

I love this type of puzzle and this book has some great ones. They are great for making a long road trip more interesting. I am in college and I love them but so does my mom and younger sister. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who likes lateral thinking games.

Average customer rating:

Classic Lateral Thinking Puzzles
Edward J. Harshman , Des MacHale , and Paul Sloane
Manufacturer: Main Street
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1402710623

Book Description

A man writes the same number, and nothing else, on 20 sheets of paper. Why? To figure this out--and hundreds of other mind-bending lateral puzzles, too--you'll have to really fire up your brain and imagination. At first, it may not seem as if there's enough information to come up with a solution. But look more closely; there's always more than meets the eye. Check your assumptions, ask good questions, retune your mind, separate the facts from the red herrings, and the answers will come.

Lateral Mindtrap Puzzles: Challenge the Way You Think & See

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Lateral Mindtrap Puzzles: Challenge the Way You Think & See
Detective Shadow
Manufacturer: Sterling
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Utterly Ingenious Five Minute Mysteries (Five-Minute Mysteries)
Absolutely Amazing Five Minute Mysteries
Outstanding Lateral Thinking Puzzles
Art Fraud Detective: Spot the Difference, Solve the Crime!
So You Think You're Smart: 150 Fun and Challenging Brain Teasers

ASIN: 0806971355

Book Description

Catch crooks, expose con artists, and trap liars! Solve mysteries, explain conundrums, and match wits with evil geniuses! All it takes is paying strict attention to every word of the MindTrap story. It's harder than it looks, because most people picture the stories in their minds, and usually imagine something that isn't there, or overlook a crucial detail. But you can defy the odds. Trap the auctioneer who's trying to sell an old letter addressed to Queen Elizabeth I. How? Because you know she wasn't called "the first" until centuries later when there was a second Queen Elizabeth. Or capture the thief whose victims were dying just before they deposited their paychecks at the bank-just figure out that the killer had poisoned the glue on the bank deposit envelopes. Warning: the pictures that accompany each story may be hazardous to your puzzle-solving skills.

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Colorful Lateral Thinking Puzzles
Paul Sloane , and Des MacHale
Manufacturer: Sterling
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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So You Think You're Smart: 150 Fun and Challenging Brain Teasers

ASIN: 0806993928

Book Description

Finally, a puzzle book as “bright” as its readers. Not only will puzzle-doers find wickedly tricky brainbusters on every page, but all the accompanying illustrations are in brilliant color too. And that makes unraveling these challenging conundrums even more fun. It will take some real smarts to figure this out:

Diamonds are for never: Robbers knew that a woman had some very valuable diamonds. They waited until she was away on holiday and then burgled her house. They searched high and low but they could not find the diamonds. What had she done?

The answer may seem hard at find at first, but solvers who can think unconventionally, and look past the obvious, will figure it out—and every other puzzle too.

Answer: She froze each diamond in a separate section of a tray of ice cubes, where they were very hard to see.

Five Minute Classic Lateral Thinking Puzzles

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Five Minute Classic Lateral Thinking Puzzles

Manufacturer: Lagoon Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Improve Your Lateral Thinking: Puzzles To Challenge Your Mind

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Awful book! Puzzles are retarded and absurd.
Abstract Mind Games
Challenging students to think differently
Very challenging and fun!

Improve Your Lateral Thinking: Puzzles To Challenge Your Mind
Paul Sloane , and Des MacHale
Manufacturer: Sterling
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Classic Lateral Thinking Challenges

ASIN: 0806913746

Book Description

Develop lateral thinking skills and improve brain power. The goal is to find a logical explanation for what appears to be an illogical situation. Do the puzzles with a friend, taking turns being puzzle setter and solver. By asking yes-or-no questions the solver attempts to find the solution within 20 minutes. One of "The Year's best puzzle books."--Games World of Puzzles. 96 pages, 5 3/8 x 8 1/4.

Customer Reviews:

Awful book! Puzzles are retarded and absurd. .......2005-07-25

I truly wish I spent a few more minutes looking into the puzzles contained in the book before making my purchase. The puzzles posed are not puzzles at all, but rather the end result of what you would get if you hired 30 first graders to come up with "brain teasers."

Here's an example of what I'm talking about straight from the book:

During a flight from Brazil to London, the pilot told all the passengers to get out of their seats and to stand at the back of the plane. Why did he do this?

The answer is: A passenger sitting near the front had smuggled a poisonous snake onto the plane and it had escaped.

If you think that "puzzle" is bad, all I can say is that they get worse, much worse.

This would only be mildly amusing if I were back in college and wanted to entertain those who were drunk. Even then, probably not.

Save your money for something that involves actually using your "brain". Purchase this only if you need something to reach the temperature of 451.

Abstract Mind Games.......2003-06-03

Challenging students to think differently.......2001-05-20

I purchased this book to use as one of my classroom resources for a weekly puzzle with 8th grade language arts students. I write one of the puzzles (generally a condensed version) on the board on Monday, and then give the students all week to ponder the puzzle. On Friday, I draw a winner from the bowl of entries. The winner gets a candy bar of his or her choice.

Besides adding excitement to my classroom, the puzzle presents the students with a mental challenge unlike most of their other intellectual endeavors. So much of what is taught at school is initially unknown to the student; however, the best feature of these puzzles is that the intent of many of them isn't to teach something new, but to make the reader think differently about something that is obvious. Week after week many of my students slap their foreheads on Fridays and proclaim, "Of course!" But, as the year has gone by, I have seen a marked increase in the number of correct responses!

Very challenging and fun!.......1999-10-05

I loved this book! It was challenging yet fun. It really makes you think. The questions sound difficult, then when you read the answer, you hit yourself for not thinking of it. I would recommend this book to anyone who has the patience to really sit down and think. It's fun for all ages for any time. From 7 to 70, or from sitting in your living room to in the car during a trip. You'll love this book!

Average customer rating:

Packed with challenges

Classic Lateral Thinking Challenges
Paul Sloane , and Des MacHale
Manufacturer: Main Street
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Lateral Thinking: Creativity Step by Step (Perennial Library)
The Leader's Guide to Lateral Thinking Skills: Unlocking the Creativity and Innovation in You and Your Team

ASIN: 140272361X

Book Description

Time to check any assumptions at the door: lateral thinking puzzles demand a creative approach, an open mind, and an ability to construct a variety of possible answers before settling on the right one. Many of the questions don't even have enough information on their own for the solver to arrive at the solution; that's why every problem has additional clues to guide you. Get into the swing of things with some simple Warm Ups and Elementary examples before moving on to the more challenging Workout, Strenuous, Super-Strenuous, Crime, and other puzzles collected here.

Customer Reviews:

Packed with challenges.......2006-10-02

This book is full of fun lateral thinking puzzles, some actually based on history, some gruesome, and both quick and easy puzzles as well as hard ones. There are clues included, so you can help people along without giving away the answer. It's the best money I've spent if a party you're having starts to get a little boring. Not to mention the method of thought required to solve the puzzles will help you in every day life.

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